Riverdale: The Andrews Brothers
by JarodAM16
Summary: Write up of base Riverdale series with my OC John Andrews which twists it off in various fun directions
1. Chapter 1 Part 1

Our story is about a town. A town called Riverdale. There lived the heroes of our story, Betty Cooper: The girl next door, Jughead Jones: The weird kid from the wrong side of the tracks, The Andrews boys: John and Archie who were both as good as people get and finally Veronica Lodge: The rich girl whose world had been torn down after the downfall of her father Hiram. One day they would all be united by a lifetime of hardships and triumph but as of right now, they were only loosely linked. The same could be said about the population of our funny little town after what the Blossom twins did this summer. On the fourth of July Jason and Cheryl Blossom drove out to Sweetwater river for an early morning boat ride.

The next thing that we know happened for sure was that Dilton Doiley, who was out on a bird watching expedition, came upon Cheryl by the rivers edge mumbling only one word.

"Jason"

The Riverdale police dragged Sweetwater river for Jason's body but never found it. So, a week later the Blossom family buried an empty coffin and Jason's death was deemed an accident after Cheryl's story made the rounds. That Cheryl dropped a glove in the water and Jason reached down to get it. Accidentally tipping the boat, causing him to fall into the river, panic and drown. As for the rest of Riverdale, we were still talking about the July 4th tragedy when on the last day of summer vacation, a new mystery rolled into town in the form of the Lodges...

*Veronica's POV*

The car pulled up to a large building with an even larger driveway. Veronica stepped out of the car and stared up at the name embossed onto the front doorway in big gold letters

The Pembrooke

"Now brace yourself" Her mother said "The apartment's small, a pied-a-terre but quality always"

Veronica repeated those last words with her mother, it wasn't the first time she'd heard them.

"Plus" She mustered "It's the only piece of property in my name and not your father's"

Her mother began to walk into the apartment and Veronica reluctantly followed her.

"Miss Hermione" An old man called out as he jogged into the hallway at the front of the Pembrooke "Welcome home"

"Smithers! You are a sight for sore eyes" her mother said rushing forwards to embrace the man. He was wearing a doorman's outfit but seemed far too old for the job nevertheless he seemed nice and her mother's reaction certainly helped her immediate judgement.

"How was the ride?" Smithers asked as the embrace broke

"No traffic, thank god" replied her mother "Smithers, I'd like to introduce you to my daughter, Veronica"

Her mother stood aside so that Smithers could see Veronica. He smiled at her and extended an arm out

"It's a pleasure miss "Smithers said warmly as he shook her hand

"Hi" Veronica replied

"I'll get the bags" he said, turning his attention back to her mother.

"Would you?" She asked appreciatively.

Smithers began to walk away then turned around again "Oh and would you like some menus ma'am, so you can order in?"

"Oh no, I have been craving one of Pop Tate's cheeseburgers since noon! Is his Chock'lit Shoppe still open?"

"What is a Chock'lit Shoppe "Veronica interrupted "And why does it sell burgers?"

Her mother stared at her before looking back at Smithers apologetically.

This was going to be an interesting change indeed.

*Betty's POV*

"Are you excited? Nervous?"

Betty turned to face Kevin Keller, a smile forming on her face.

"Both" she laughed

They were both in Betty's room. She was getting ready to meet her best friend Archie Andrews, she hadn't seen him all summer but she still had a huge crush on him. Kevin wanted her to ask him out tonight but she wasn't sure if she could do it.

"I haven't seen him all summer"

"Which is why nerves are acceptable but we agreed Betty. It's time." Kevin repeated for the fifty millionth time "You like him, he likes you"

"Well then why, Kevin, hasn't he done anything about it?" She said interrupting his routine.

"Because" He began "Archie's swell but like most millennial straight guys, he needs to be told what he wants, so tell him"

She sighed, turning away from him "Well it depends"

"Oh my god" Kevin shouted "Game Changer, Archie got hot. You've lucked out by picking him over John"

"Kev, come on" She chided, pushing him out of the way of the window so she could see

"He's got abs now!" Kevin argued

"That doesn't make him better" she said although the more she looked the more she began to doubt that.

Archie walked out of her view to reveal John standing beside him looking right at her. She shot away from the window and saw Kevin do the same.

"Please don't see me" She whispered as she quickly checked again only to see John staring back at her smiling widely. She saw him wave his phone at her before he walked out of Archie's room. She sighed with relief before closing her curtains and grabbing her own phone to call him.

"Hello" he said, picking up instantly "You know you really would make a terrible spy"

"I promise I wasn't doing anything weird" She said quickly

"Chill, you told me about your undying love for my brother remember? I'm not going to say anything"

Betty breathed a sigh of relief "Are you coming tonight? Archie didn't say"

"No but I am going to Pops to meet Jughead so I'll be monitoring the progress, Kevin told me you're asking him tonight?"

She turned to Kevin and scowled at him, he held up his hands.

"He wasn't supposed to say anything" She growled

"Well he did" John laughed "Have a good time and good luck Betty"

Betty hung up the phone and continued to get ready, whatever happened, nothing was going to stop her from asking him tonight!

*John's POV*

"Sorry about the road trip Jug, I know you were really looking forward to it" John said apologetically.

"Yeah well things happen I guess" he said shooting a look over to Betty and Archie's table.

They were in a booth in Pop's. Betty was finally going to ask Archie out and John had finally gotten up the guts to apologise to Jughead. It seemed like the summer was finally wrapping up. John, Jughead, Betty and John's little brother Archie had been friends for a long time. This year they'd kind of grown apart but John had never wanted to push Jug away, he knew life was hard enough already for him. No, Archie had been the cause, something had happened to him this summer and whatever it was had caused a rift between him and Jughead. People often mistook Archie for John. They had the same red hair and they were nearly the same height (John was a little taller) but Jughead had always been able to tell the difference. That was probably why the two had always been better friends than the rest of them. The fact that Archie was shutting even Jughead out, meant he was dealing with something serious.

"I'm sure she's already asked him" Jughead said, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Nah you know, Betty. She'll wait till the end of time and even then, she'll be reluctant"

"Well look out because I think she's about to get a fresh dose of nerves" Jughead pointed at a raven-haired girl who had started talking to Archie. She looked posh, and exactly the kind of girl that Archie would fall for.

"Would you excuse me a minute while I go be a matchmaking hero?"

Jughead laughed "No problem, I'll just work on my book"

"Cheers man" John said before walking nonchalantly over to Betty and Archie's booth.

"Do you guys go to Riverdale?" The Raven-haired girl asked Archie.

"Unless there's another school on the Northside, in which case sign me up. Hi I'm John Andrews, this is my brother Archie and my friend Betty Cooper" He shot a look at Betty but she was just staring at the girl and then back at Archie as if making the connection.

"Veronica Lodge" The girl said, looking at him with mild interest " I can see the resemblance"

"Everyone does" John said nervously.

Veronica turned back towards the booth and looked at Betty.

"wait Betty Cooper... are you my..."

"I'm your peer mentor, I'm supposed to give you your tour tomorrow" Betty said in a tortured tone.

"Do you want to join us?" Archie asked "Maybe we can unfill you with dread?"

Betty and John both shook their heads in unison.

"My mom's waiting for me but to be continued" Veronica said before walking away.

Archie's head followed her as she left.

"What were you saying" Archie asked as Betty struggled to form words and John buried his head in his hands...

*Betty's POV*

"Betty this coming year is critical for colleges" Her mom said reminding her again.

Today was the first day back at school and as usual her mom was in her room giving her the pressure filled pep talk.

"Grades are important, extracurriculars, athletics, maintaining a decent character is hugely important, they do look at that"

"Mom" She said in a vague attempt to calm her down "I'm a sophomore"

"You've accomplished so much, I just don't want anything jeopardizing that"

Betty knew what was coming next.

"I mean just think of your poor sister"

There it is.

"She was such a shining star before she let that Blossom boy ruin her"

Betty sighed "Mom I'm not Polly"

"You missed curfew last night" She countered.

"By seven minutes" she said incredulously "I was with Archie and John who are redheaded but nothing like Jason Blossom"

Her mom took her arm "Sweetie all boys are like Jason Blossom, I love you so much Elizabeth, I just need you to be smart okay?"

Betty's fake smile melted from her lips.

Her mom pushed a small orange bottle into her hands "I refilled your Adderall, seems you forgot to pick up your prescription"

Knock Knock Knock

"That'll be John" Betty says, running past her mother and down the stairs to the door.

*Veronica's POV*

This place was weird, but it certainly wasn't as bad as she had expected. Neither was this Betty girl. She was pretty friendly, definitely the type of person the new Veronica wanted to surround herself with.

"So I usually start off my tours with some history and context"

Veronica nodded.

"Riverdale High first opened it's doors in 1941"

"And hasn't been redecorated since apparently" Veronica joked "Honestly I feel like I'm wandering through the lost epilogue of Our Town"

Betty didn't seem amused. She quickly changed the subject.

"So, what's the social scene like here? Any nightclubs?"

A tall boy with dark hair appeared alongside her "A strip club called the Ho Zone and a tragic gay bar called Innuendo. Friday nights, football games. Tailgate parties at the Mal-Mart parking lot. Saturday night is movie night regardless of what's playing at the Bijou and you better get there early because we don't have reserved seating in Riverdale and on Sunday nights? Well thank god for HBO"

Betty sighed "Veronica Lodge, Kevin Keller. Veronica's new here and Kevin is..."

"Gay" Veronica finished "Thank god, let's be best friends"

"Funny, that's not what I first said about him" Another voice from behind her said.

"Don't tease him John" Betty laughed.

Veronica spun round to see John Andrews, the boy who seemed to just appear whenever she was in the vicinity.

"Hello again" She said "Does that mean you and Kevin are..."

"Oh no" John said laughing "No that was just a joke because that's exactly what Kevin wishes"

"Shut up John" Kevin said although he didn't sound angry.

"Well it seems like I've come across quite the group of friends" Veronica said.

"Well you're quite impressive as well Veronica, what with everything that's being said about your dad"

Veronica knew he was joking but she couldn't help but shoot him an angry look.

"That he's the devil incarnate? I stand by my father" she said coldly "does everyone here know?"

Betty betrayed the answer by refusing to meet her eyes.

"Wonderful" Veronica exclaimed "Ten minutes in and I'm already the Blue Jasmine of Riverdale High"

"Veronica I'm sorry, he didn't mean anything by it" Betty said as Veronica walked off.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry. Can we just start over?"

John held his arm out.

Veronica smiled "Hi, I'm Veronica Lodge"

"John Andrews" he said returning her smile.

They started walking again, turning the corner to see Archie Andrews at his locker.

"There's the hottie you were with last night. The red headed Ansel Elgort"

"What exactly does that make me" John said, offended.

Veronica shot him a pity look before turning his attention back to Archie.

"Is he your boyfriend?" she asked Betty.

"No, we're just friends" she replied.

"In that case, mind putting in a word for me? I've tried every flavour of boy but orange"

"Actually, to clarify, Betty and Archie aren't dating but they are endgame" Kevin said firmly.

"You should ask him to that semi-formal dance then" Veronica offered.

"She should but I heard it might be cancelled" Kevin said solemnly "Because of what happened to Jason"

*Archie's POV*

"Each and every one of you meant the world to Jason, I loved my brother" Cheryl's words echoed across the sports hall but Archie wasn't listening. There was too much on his mind. He'd lied to his dad about football, His plan about asking Josie for help with his music had crumbled and of course there was that most painful of subjects: Geraldine Grundy. The teacher that he'd fallen for that summer, the reason he hadn't seen any of his friends and the heartbreak that he pumped into his music. He looked down to see her in the crowd and the memories washed over him like a wave. Meeting her for the first time in the street and their first night together in the back of her small car.

Cheryl's announcement was drowned out by his memories and when the crowd eventually started to clap and cheer even that was dull and muffled. Geraldine looked back towards him and their eyes locked. Just for a moment he felt that connection between the two of them again until she turned her back on him again and everything was lost.

People started filtering out of the hall and Archie had to push and shove his way through the crowd to keep up with her. He followed her to the foot of the stairs leading to the first-floor labs before shouting for her.

"Miss Grundy!" he called her name but she ignored him, maybe she didn't hear him?

"Miss Grundy!" This time he was certain that she'd heard him, he took a risk.

"Geraldine" he yelled as he grabbed her arm.

She turned reluctantly to face him, her face full of strained composure.

"What can I do for you Mr Andrews"

"Can we talk, Miss Grundy? Please?"

"That depends" She smiled nervously "About what?"

"Music" he blurted "You're the music teacher can we talk about music?"

"Of course," She said, looking relived "Make an appointment, during my office hours...My official office hours"

With that she walked away. He wanted to say something, anything but the words wouldn't come out. Frustrated he turned away only to see his brother John stood at the foot of the stairs.

"That was tense" he said.

"Was it?" Archie asked walking towards him.

"Anything going on that you want to tell me about?" John's eyebrows were raised the way they always were when he knew that Archie was hiding something.

"Nothing at all" Archie mumbled as he pushed past his brother and walked away down a corridor.

*John's POV*

John had special dispensation twice a week to go help his father out at the construction site and thankfully today was one of those days. Trying to second guess his brother was stressing him out and there was no better way of relieving that than some good honest work. The one thing he didn't expect to see when he arrived at his dads on site office was a woman. She was tall with raven hair and she seemed to be hesitant to enter the trailer.

"Hey, can I help you" John called to her as he approached.

"Oh, hi you must be one of Fred's boys, right?"

"What gave it away" John asked

"Well the red hair is always a sign. You're either Mary and Fred's kid or a Blossom and I don't think Riverdale has changed so much that I'd see one of those on this construction site"

"Very acute, I assume you're here for my dad?"

"Yes, I knocked but there was no answer?"

John laughed "You don't know him well then, he's down on site with the lads. Come in and I'll give him a bell for you"

He stepped past her and opened the door, letting her into the messy office. He whipped out his phone and dropped his dad a text, within ten minutes he was walking through the trailer door.

"Hemione Lodge" His dad chuckled "My day just got a lot more interesting"

"Hello Fred, how are you?"

"Surprised"

A silence passed between the two.

"Uh can we get you anything" John asked

"A job" Hermione asked hopefully "I saw on your website that you're looking for a seasonal hire, someone to help with the books?"

"Yeah my guys on paternity leave" his father said, leaning back in his chair.

"You know I think my daughters going to school with your sons?"

"Probably, you've met one obviously" his dad pointed behind him at John. John for his part stayed silent.

"Isn't that funny though? We'll have to tell them that we knew each other, that we even dated for a little while. At least until I..."

"Chose the rich kid?" Dad offered.

"Now a reversal of fortune" Hermione said, clearly amused "How's Mary doing?"

Dad sighed "She's in Chicago, we split up but we're civil. How about you? How are you holding up really?"

Hermione laughed "I have a little money saved, I was praying that someone in Riverdale, maybe an old friend would be willing to give me the benefit of the doubt?"

My dad stood up and sighed heavily "If it were up to me..."

Hermione frowned in confusion "Isn't it up to you? It's your company"

"Well I have clients, I can't very well have Hermione Lodge, the wife of Hiram Lodge who is on trial for fraud and embezzlement, balancing my books for me, can I?"

Hermione looked at the ground and chuckled "No, I suppose you can't"

John watched her sympathetically as she stood and walked out of the trailer.

"Dad come on, we can help her"

"You don't understand son, she's an old friend yeah but she's also a Lodge and at the moment that name doesn't bode well for anyone involved with it. I've got to protect my company, things are changing around here"

John just nodded his head in agreement, they certainly were...


	2. Chapter 1 Part 2

*Betty's POV*

She had been afraid that she'd have to tell Archie that his newfound passion for music wasn't a good idea. I mean nobody else would and although she was his best friend, she was also a realist, if she thought Archie was chasing a dream, he'd never achieve she'd tell him. Thankfully after no more than two lines it was clear that Archie had a real talent. His song was awesome, how had she never known what a good singer he was? Even John the self-confessed enemy of the music industry was nodding his head and smiling. Kevin was just sat in stunned silence.

Out of nowhere Archie shut his laptop.

"Can I Join?" Betty turned to see Veronica stood behind her, tray in hand.

"Yeah" Betty said, disappointed that she'd once again lost her moment with Archie.

"What are we doing" Veronica asked expectantly as she slid onto the bench opposite her and Archie, making Kevin and John move over much to their annoyance.

"Listening to one of Archie's songs" Betty replied, turning to Archie to shoot him a smile.

"I thought we were going to have to pretend to like it but its actually really good" Betty shot Kevin a glare and John laughed

"Resounding praise as usual Kevin" John patted him on the back for good measure "Honestly Arch it was really good and you know that if I'm saying that it's a big deal"

"Thanks John" Archie smiled but wouldn't meet his brothers' eyes.

"Wait that was you, singing something you wrote?" Veronica asked

Archie's smile faded "It's rough"

"No, it's great" Betty reassured, she wanted to squeeze his arm but she thought better of it.

"Its incredible actually. The little snippet I heard. Is that your thing? Music?" Betty didn't like the way Veronica looked at Archie as she said that.

"So, are going to be doing something with that?" John asked.

"That's the plan" Archie replied still not meeting Johns eyes, she made a mental note to ask Archie about that later when Veronica and John weren't around.

"So, how's your first day going" John asked Veronica

"Not to be a complete Narcissist, but I thought people would be more..."

"Obsessed with you?" Kevin finished the sentence for her "any other year you'd be trending number one for sure. This year though it's all about Cheryl trying to win the best supporting psycho Oscar for her role as Riverdale Highs bereaved red widow"

Betty noticed Archie looking away from the conversation and followed his gaze to see Cheryl walking towards the table.

"I should go I've got that meeting with Grundy the football tryouts" Archie stood up to leave.

"You play football too? What don't you do?" Veronica sounded genuinely impressed which Betty didn't think was possible for a girl like her.

As Archie walked away Kevin sighed "Before you ask Blue Jasmin no Betty has not asked him to the semi-formal yet"

"No not yet and don't talk about Archie" Betty barely managed to get the warning out before Cheryl arrived at the table.

"Veronica Lodge" Cheryl said, her voice dripping with fake interest "I'd heard whisperings. I'm Cheryl Blossom. May I sit? Betty would you mind?"

It wasn't a question which was proven by Cheryl sitting right next to her and forcing her down the bench.

"So, what are you three gossiping about? Archie's Efron-esque emergence from the chrysalis of puberty?"

Shit she must have caught the last word. Well that was her life ruined, Veronica was going to let slip not knowing what Cheryl's like and by the end of the day Betty would be the laughing stock of the whole school.

Veronica shot her a look. It was a question. Betty shook her head fiercely.

"Extracurriculars" Veronica said with fake enthusiasm, Betty could have hugged her right there "Weatherbee wants me to sign up for a few"

"Cheerleading! You must" Cheryl beamed at the chance to recruit another crony "I am senior captain of the River Vixens"

"Is cheerleading still a thing?" Kevin asked with mock surprise.

"Is being the gay best friend still a thing?" Cheryl shot back.

"Dude she's got you there" John laughed.

"You're not allowed to exist in my presence" Cheryl said pointing at John but not looking at him "or did you forget"

John did a mock bow and busied himself with his lunch.

"Some people say cheerleading is retro, I say it's eternal and iconic"

Veronica shrugged "At Spence I sat at the top of the elites pyramid. I'm in. Betty you're trying out too"

Betty knew what was coming.

"Of course. Anyone's welcome to try out but Betty's already got so much on her plate right now and being a vixen is kind of a full-time thing"

"But open to all right" John chuckled

"I swear to god Andrews if you so much as breath again"

"Shutting up" John said, taking a bite out of an apple.

Cheryl got up to leave "Follow me on twitter and I'll do the same. My handle's @CherylBombshell"

With that Cheryl walked away.

"God she's annoying" John said with an exasperated sigh

"So why did you ask her out?" Kevin asked incredulously

"You know, cos she's pretty and all" John shot back with a sheepish grin as he got up to leave as well.

"Didn't she tell you to die in a fire" Kevin asked standing up with him

"That's how I know she likes me dude"

The boy's argument faded as they walked away and Betty noticed that Veronica was staring at her

"What?"

"Hate on cheerleading but if Hipster Prince Harry- "

"Oh, I'd love to be a cheerleader" Betty blurted cutting Veronica off "It would look great on my college applications but last year when I tried out Cheryl said I was too fat"

"Well you're a total smoke show now, I mean it! As hot and as smart as you are you should be the queen bey of this drab hive" She smiled at Betty "if you want to be a River Vixen, I'll help you prep. I have moves"

Betty considered Veronicas proposition for a moment before smiling back at her.

"Okay you know what? Show me your moves"

*Geraldine's POV*

Listening to Archie's music was like reliving the whole summer all over again. He was only sat a foot away from her and yet she yearned to be closer to him, then her usual composure and self-control resurfaced. She knew Archie Andrews and she knew that he wasn't just here to show off his new talent.

"They're...very real" She said in a measured tone "Very personal"

"I took your advice and wrote them down, polished them but I was wondering maybe if you could help me"

Here we go she thought.

"With what Archie?"

"You went to Julliard Miss Grundy! There is no one else I can take lessons from. Believe me I've looked"

Those last words hurt her and she didn't know why. Well she knew why, the thought of him going to another teacher hurt her but she was the one trying to push him away. Why did things have to be so complicated.

"Well I don't think that's a good idea" She looked around before whispering "I don't think we should be alone together"

She let that sink in before continuing "if this is you trying to restart something that never should have started in the first place"

"No, it's not" Archie shot back, his voice pained "It is about the music but it's also...Come on I need to be able to talk to someone. We heard what we heard and afterwards we didn't do anything and we didn't say anything!"

Geraldine's mind was cast back to that warm morning in July, to them lying on a blanket by the river and of course to the mystery gunshot that they'd both heard. She often wondered about whether it was the gunshot that had made this situation so awkward but as always, she chided herself. It was always going to be awkward, he's your student but you just couldn't help yourself could you.

"We heard fireworks" She insisted

"Who's lighting fireworks at 6 in the morning?"

"How would we explain why we were together at Sweetwater river at 6am on the fourth of July? And you're right we didn't say anything. We're both going to have to live with that choice. Do you understand?"

She loved his moral sense but if he kept insisting on saying something, she'd have to get drastic fast to save her job and more importantly her life. Please just let him agree she thought.

When he didn't reply she spoke instead " I think you should pursue your music but not with me"

With that she got up and walked away, the tears prickling at her eyes as she struggled to regain her composure.

*John's POV*

John and the rest of the basketball team were stood at the edge of the gym waiting for the last of the vixen tryout's to finish up. He'd tried explaining to Cheryl that this was their time in the gym but as usual she refused to even acknowledge him. Sometimes he wished he'd never taken the plunge with Cheryl. When you ask someone out you normally can't gauge their reactions but John had always known that she would be like this, he'd just hoped otherwise.

He was shaken from his thoughts by whistles from his teammates, he looked up and almost did a double take. Betty and Veronica were up next, he honestly didn't think anyone would be able to persuade Betty to do that again after last time. Veronica was one special girl.

They performed their act. It was pretty standard cheerleading stuff that would pass at any other high school but John knew what Cheryl was looking for.

"Hmm ladies, where's the heat? Where's the sizzle" Cheryl said in a bored tone.

"Well you haven't seen our big finish yet" Veronica said before pulling a surprised Betty into a full-on kiss. The guys behind John cheered and whistled and Cheryl just sat there looking deeply unimpressed.

"check you're sell by date ladies. Faux-lesbian kissing hasn't been taboo since 1994. So, let's see if you do better in the interview portion"

Oh no.

"Betty, how's your sister doing"

"Come on Cheryl" John called across the gym "Lighten the fuck up"

Cheryl ignored him and looked expectantly at Betty for an answer.

"Um, Polly's fine. Thanks for asking"

"Veronica has Betty told you about her sister?"

"Uh no"

"Go ahead Betty" Cheryl's voice was dripping with venom "Tell her about your sister and my dear brother"

"Polly and Jason dated"

Cheryl laughed "I wouldn't say dated"

"It didn't end well" Betty said dejectedly.

"In fact, Jason's probably why your sister had a nervous breakdown and now lives in a group home isn't it?"

"That's what my parents think"

"What do you have to say about that Betty? Go ahead the floor is yours"

"Cheryl come on, stop this now" John shouted desperately

"Whatever you've been dying to spew about Jason and the way he treated Polly, unleash it. Destroy me. Tear me a new one. Rip me to shreds. Annihilate me."

Betty gasped "I just...I just wanted to say I'm sorry, about what happened to Jason. I can't even imagine what you and you're family must be going through"

John tensed, waiting for Cheryl to unleash hell on Betty but she just sighed.

"Right...Veronica! Welcome to the River Vixens. Betty, better luck next time"

John was about to walk over and give Cheryl a piece of his mind but Veronica stepped forwards before he could.

"Wait. What? Why? Because you couldn't bully Betty into being a bitch?"

"I need girls with fire on my squad"

Veronica visibly tensed up "I know what you need, Cheryl because I know what you are. You would rather people fear than like you so you traffic in terror and intimidation. You're rich so you've never been held accountable but I'm living proof. That certainty, that entitlement that you wear on your head like a crown? It wont last. Eventually there will be a reckoning or maybe that reckoning is now and maybe that reckoning is me. Betty and me are a matching set, you want me you take her too. You want fire? Sorry Cheryl Bombshell my specialty is ice"

John laughed out loud as Cheryl's face went from cherry red with anger to ice white with fear. Veronica certainly was a reckoning and things around here were about to change.

The Vixens fled the hall pretty fast after Veronica's speech and in no time at all training was well underway, after a while coach ordered us outside for one of his endurance runs. John had always been brilliant at running, it was clear to see in the gap between him and the group of tired students behind him as they ran laps of the school complex. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Archie on the field with the football squad staring at a jersey in his hands. He figured he could be there and back before the other kids even caught up to him so he ran over, calling Archie's name.

"Yo Arch, what's up?"

"Hey John, you look tired"

"Funny, you look like you've seen a ghost"

Archie held up the Jersey "Clayton wants to give me Jason's number"

"But that's varsity, that means more hours, less time with your music and on the construction site"

"Truth is I don't think I'd be able to do my music at all... so I told coach that dad need me"

"Okay fine, then you focus on the business and your music"

"I told dad that I can't work with him because of football"

"Archie you can't just go all in with this music thing, it's a shot in the dark! Football-"

"Football gets me to college I know and the business gets me paid but I don't want to do either of those things"

John sighed.

"Look John just don't tell Dad yet, I'll figure something out I promise"

"You better Arch, things are gonna start happening really fast, you've gotta be ready"

Archie didn't answer him but John knew he'd figure it out. He'd just need some help and that was something he was always prepared to give his brother.

*Betty's POV*

Veronica was strange. She had all the makings of a spoilt rich bitch yet back there when she could have let Betty drown, she'd dived in and saved her instead. She had to know why.

"Veronica why did you defend me? I know the crowd you ran with in New York. Why are you being so...nice"

Veronica sighed as they exited the sports hall and started to walk towards the fields.

"When my father got arrested it was the worst thing ever. All these trolls started writing horrible things about us. We'd get letters and emails saying that my dad was a thief, my mom was a clueless socialite and that I was this spoiled, rich bitch, ice princess and what hurt the most about it was... the things the trolls were writing were true. I was like Cheryl, I was worse than Cheryl. So, when my mom said that we were moving to Riverdale I made a pact with myself. That I would be better, that I would be the new Veronica"

"That's a lot of pressure" Betty said in amazement, she paused for a moment before deciding that if she was going to open up then Betty might as well join her.

"When Jason and Polly got together it meant everything to her and nothing to him and things got super intense and weird and toxic and my mom turned on Polly saying that she wasn't her daughter anymore. Jason hurt Polly but it was my mom who broke her"

There was silence between the two for a while, until Veronica broke it by shouting out.

"Andrews!"

Betty turned to see John and Archie standing in a field together talking. At Veronica's shout they both looked around in confusion.

"You're so doing this Betty" Veronica said to her in a low voice before shouting again "I meant the fit one, come over here"

"Doing what?" Betty hissed.

"Slaying your dragons, Betty Cooper, one by one"

John and Archie jogged over to them, Archie was clutching a jersey.

"yeah I didn't know which one of us you meant so I came too" John joked

Veronica gave him a judging look before turning her attention to Archie "Betty here has something she wants to ask you about the back-to-school dance"

Veronica looked at Betty expectantly as did Archie while John cringed in the background with his face in his hands.

She shot Veronica a look before looking up to Archie "I was wondering if you wanted to come...with both of us

"huh?" Archie did a double take

"What?" Veronica rounded on her, confused.

"Fuck sake" John put his head in his hands and turned around

Betty turned to Veronica "It's your first dance in Riverdale. You should have someone to go with even if it's just a friend and John will come too, then we can both laugh at him trying to chat up Cheryl"

"A night with the awkward patrol, how could I resist" John said sarcastically before turning to Archie who looked conflicted about the whole idea "If I've gotta go as the entertainment then you have no choice but to escort these ladies, don't you dare back out"

"Fine" Archie said reluctantly "It could be good fun"

"That's the spirit" laughed Veronica and John in unison as the four all shook hands on a deal well done.

*Johns POV*

"You know you can't just back out every time you get close to telling him, one day you will have to go ahead"

Betty gave him a piercing look before carrying on with her makeup. After Veronica had been picked up, he and Archie had walked Betty home and unable to contain his confusion anymore John had asked to come up to her room with her.

"It's just never the right time, John"

"What is THAT" The voice of Betty's mother flooded the room with an immediate tension.

"Mom not now, Johns here"

Alice cooper turned to look at him "Hi John, what are you wearing Betty"

"I made the cheerleading squad"

"I didn't by the way" John said sheepishly "they said I was too good"

Alice ignored him "After what Jason did to Polly!? No, I'm sorry, I won't allow it. Take that off right now"

"No"

"What did you say to me"

John slowly held a pillow up to his face.

"I do everything for everyone. Everything. To be perfect. The perfect daughter, the perfect sister, the perfect student. Can't I do this one thing just for me?" Betty started to stalk out of the room but her mom grabbed her arm.

"Where are you going?"

"To buy a dress because guess what. I'm also going to the dance with Archie and Veronica"

"And me" John piped up

"And John" Betty a brief smile playing over her angry features.

"Wait Hermione Lodge's daughter?"

"She's actually really nice and trying to be a good person"

"You think so? You think she's gonna be your friend? Well let me tell you something, girls like Cheryl and Veronica don't like girls like you"

"I don't wanna hear it mom, it's happening. I'm going..." Betty stormed out of the room leaving John and Alice in stunned silence.

*Hermione's POV*

"Thank you, Smithers, as always, you're a godsend"

"Happy to help Miss Hermione" Smithers replied as he carried her bags up the Pembrooke's stairs behind her.

"Unlike the rest of Riverdale" she retorted "What's that?"

She was pointing to a large leather bag on her desk.

"Oh, a spot of good news, the car service found and dropped off your missing bag" Smithers smiled at her before returning downstairs to bring up the rest of her shopping.

Hermione knew she hadn't left anything behind, she certainly wasn't missing anything, so how could this be her missing bag. She walked over to the bag and opened it only to find it full to the brim with cash.

"Oh Hiram" she said aloud "What have you done"


	3. Chapter 1 Part 3

Archie's POV*

Archie was sat on the front porch of his house, he was strumming out a simple tune on his guitar while he thought about everything that was going through his head. What was he going to choose? Music, football or the business? How could he convince Geraldine to fess up to the gunshot with him and why was she suddenly trying to shut him out? Nothing seemed to make sense anymore it was as if a haze had fallen over his life since the summer ended, even Betty was acting weird around him and that probably worried him the most. Betty was his best friend and Archie didn't want to admit it but without her his life could only get worse.

"Surprised Josie hasn't jumped on the chance to add a new member to her band"

Archie turned around to see John sat on the opposite side of the porch watching him.

"she made it pretty clear that it wasn't going to happen when I met with the band earlier on today, how long have you been sitting there"

"Longer than you have, don't worry I'm not following but now I here...have you figured out what you're going to do yet about football?" John as always was genuinely concerned. Most siblings don't get on with their brother but Archie and John had always been more like friends than brothers. Sure, they'd had their fights but often they were born out of caring or a desire to help.

"I haven't made any decisions yet but...I don't know it's so hard. I mean I love football and I want to help Dad out more than anything but when I'm writing and playing my music it just feels right you know?"

John nodded "You'll think of something" Something caught his attention inside the house and he looked away from Archie briefly before turning back "In the meantime, Dad looks pissed, maybe moms going on another singles cruise?"

They both laughed as their Dad walked out onto the porch, he acknowledged John but focused his attention on Archie.

"I got a call from your coach today. He's under the impression that you can't play varsity football because I'm making you work for me. Which is odd because you made it sound like you couldn't work for me because you were playing football"

"Shit" John breathed from behind their Dad.

"So, my first question is who are you lying to?"

"Neither" Archie replied

"He means both" John said standing up next to his father "Come on Arch let him help"

Archie sighed "Dad, I wanna study music, I wanna write music"

Dad stared at him "Football gets you to college, college takes you to business school and business school- "

"Takes me back here" Archie exclaimed "To work for you in Riverdale"

"Not for me, with me, and your brother too. Eventually when I'm gone you two will own the company"

"No disrespect Dad. I don't want it"

"Three months ago, you did" the disappointment in his father's voice was hard not to hear "What happened?"

Archie shook his head "I've changed, everything's changed. This summer..."

"This summer what?" His Dad leant in, waiting to hear what he had to say but Archie knew he couldn't tell him. He couldn't tell his father how his whole world had been turned upside down with the arrival of Miss Grundy in his life, how she'd inspired him to chase after his talent for music and how her refusal to comment on the gunshot they heard was filling him with guilt every time he passed Cheryl in the corridor. He wished he could tell his father, get his advice but he knew what would happen next and it wouldn't be good for either of them.

Archie sighed

"That's it, we don't talk anymore? I would never force you to play football! I don't care if you play football and you don't have to work with me or for me ever again but some advice man to man. These decisions that you're making now, son, they have consequences. They go on to form who you are and who you'll become. Whatever you decide be confident enough in it that you don't have to lie"

With a shake of his head his father left and Archie watched as he went. When he looked back to where he had been standing, he saw John staring at him, his face concerned.

"Well that could have gone better" Archie said, picking his guitar back up.

"What happened this summer?" John asked

"What?" Archie asked, half hoping that his brother wouldn't ask again and half hoping that he would.

"You were about to tell Dad about something that happened this summer but you stopped. Why?"

Archie shook his head "I don't know it just didn't seem worth saying"

John stepped closer "Then what was it?"

"Jesus man just lay off already, why have you always got to dig into the littlest things I say" With that he pushed past John roughly and left him standing there on the porch, so close to his secret and yet still far away.

*Betty's POV*

Together they walked into the gym for the back to school semi-formal. Betty had her arm linked with Archie's after Veronica and John had demanded that they get to walk in together. If she was Archie, she'd of been thinking that there was something going on between the two however she knew all two well that they'd only done this to force her and Archie together. She wasn't complaining, any excuse to spend more time alone with him.

The hall had been completely overhauled for the dance with streamers and balloons everywhere, it was the best dance she'd ever seen but the decoration was overshadowed by the morbid atmosphere created by the giant banners of Jason Blossom that had been hung from the roof. There was something unnerving about a giant portrait of Riverdale's dead golden boy watching your every move.

"Well" Veronica said in a low tone as her and John walked into the gym from behind them "Its not the met ball but it'll do"

Betty turned to Archie "Hey, when do you have to let Coach Clayton know about football?"

Archie went to answer but Veronica interrupted him "Guy's cant we just liberate ourselves from the tired dichotomy of jock, artist? Can't we in this post-James Franco world be all things at once?"

Next to her John laughed "I can't be the only one who understood none of that"

That made Archie smile "I'm working on its Veronica"

"Work faster" she said in a playful voice "I'm getting punch"

With that she grabbed Johns arm and walked away but not before flashing Betty with a look that said You got this!

Now she was alone with Archie, the boy she'd fell for and she couldn't think of a single thing to say, she wasn't good at small talk like Veronica and she wasn't funny like John. She was smart but somehow, she didn't think that would interest Archie very much...or would it, with her smarts she was good at one other thing, advice. Despite what Veronica said about giving his problems a rest she knew she could fix them for him if she put her mind to it.

"It's about following your heart, right?" She said to Archie as they walked deeper into the gym "What does your heart say? Music or Football?"

She straightened his bowtie for him as they lined up to dance but he seemed distracted.

"Betty will you give me one minute? I promise when I get back, I'll be a much better date, okay?"

Betty nodded as he walked away towards the teachers table. She'd missed her chance, again. She looked around and saw John approaching her with Kevin.

"Betty listen to this story so I won't be the only one with permanent scarring...hey where did my brother go?"

"he went to talk to somebody I think, I lost sight of him by the teachers table"

"I'll find him, you better listen to this story or I'm gonna record it and set it as your ringtone, there is no escape" John laughed and ran off to find Archie.

Kevin held her arms up, his face full of glee "Betty you will not believe who just propositioned me in the bathroom. Give you a hint, his name may be Moose but I'd describe a certain appendage of his as horse-like"

Betty frowned in disgust as Kevin laughed

*John's POV*

John scoured the hall for his brother, he'd been past the teachers table but no one was sitting there anymore, he was about to throw in the towel and give up until he saw him. Sat alone on a bench with Miss Grundy. It was strange until he realised that Grundy was in fact the music teacher for the whole school, if he was going to go to anyone for advice it would be her although their conversation seemed a bit tense. John hung back, he didn't want to ruin the conversation but he kept tabs on it, he couldn't understand what it was but something about their interaction seemed off to him.

He momentarily lost track of them after spying Reggie Mantle pouring something out of a hip flask into the punch. When he looked back Miss Grundy was gone and Archie was sat on his own. John approached him as silently as he could before grabbing him by the shoulders and making him jump.

"What's up bro, why're you sat here by yourself when things are this lit"

Archie laughed "I think I just figured it out, Miss Grundy is going to do an independent study with me before school three days a week which means I can still do football and dedicate my weekends to helping you and dad"

"Archie, that's great news but just FYI I think you better get back to Betty since you kinda just left her high and dry out there"

Archie got up quickly "Oh yeah right, cheers man, are you coming with?"

"Naw man, I'm meeting Jughead in half an hour so me and Will are gonna see if we can't get at least one phone number before I have to leave. It's hard being lonely"

Archie raised an eyebrow "You wouldn't be alone if you didn't insist of chasing after Cheryl Blossom even though she flat out hates you"

"Love is love little brother, now get out of here, oh and don't drink the punch you'll thank me for it later"

John watched as his brother ran off to find Betty and hoped beyond hope that she finally got up the courage to ask him, they deserved each other more than they knew.

*Archie's POV*

He reached Betty just as Cheryl started her speech.

"Good evening friends" Her voice blared out through the speakers "Are you all having a good time?"

A loud cheer resounded around the hall, someone wolf whistled and somehow, he knew it was John.

"As honorary chairperson and de facto queen of tonight's semi-formal, it is my great pleasure to introduce these evenings main entertainment. To know them is to be obsessed with them. Though they usually perform their own material, tonight their making an exception and debuting a cover of the song that my parents claim they were listening to the night Jason and I were conceived. This one's for you JJ"

Archie turned to Betty "Sorry about that, just had some things to sort out"

Betty just smiled back at him and in that moment, he realised how lucky he was to have a friend like Betty Cooper. Someone who would always be there for him and would never judge his choices or mistakes but would help him always. He didn't know what he would do without her.

On Cheryl's command Josie and the Pussycats began to play All through the night by Cyndi Lauper and the rest of the hall lined up to dance.

"Wanna dance?" he asked Betty

She smiled and nodded as they took their positions.

"Did that go okay?" she asked

"Yeah. So, I'll study with Grundy before school, football practice after school and work with my dad on the weekend, it's gonna be nuts"

Betty laughed "Well as long as you don't give up your passion"

They danced for a little while, Betty still seemed of like she had earlier and when they'd met that night at pops. It was like there was something that she wanted to say but she just couldn't bring herself to say it. He put it down to him overanalysing it besides, he had enough to worry about all ready.

Betty looked to her left for only a minute but when she looked back her face was reddening.

She laughed nervously before speaking "Now that I'm a River Vixen and you're gonna be on varsity football...I have this fantasy of us as a power couple...or maybe even just a couple"

Archie's smile faded, suddenly he was caught of guard and his brain just couldn't find the words to say. Was she asking him out? This was bad, she was his friend, his best friend he hadn't thought about her like that for a long time.

"Betty" he began but he already regretted it, his voice sounded too scornful.

She shook her head "Is that so impossible to imagine?"

He looked away from her and his eyes focused on Miss Grundy who was staring at him from across the hall. In that one look he knew where his heart lay. He didn't want to ever hurt Betty but what was he supposed to do? Lie to her? Go out with her knowing that he wanted something else? He knew what Betty would do in this situation, she'd be a good friend, she'd tell it to him as it was. That's what he had to do and maybe it would be better in the long run.

Betty pulled away from him as the music began to slow and everyone around them clapped the pussycats for their performance. Archie looked up at the stage and noticed Cheryl Blossom looking intently at them both. He gave her a tentative wave, unsure of why she was directing her attention at him. Whatever it was about, when it came to Cheryl Blossom, it couldn't be anything good.

*Veronica's POV*

When she'd agreed to come to Cheryl's after party, she hadn't thought anything of it. She was a newly accepted River Vixen she was probably just breaking her and Betty in and as for Archie well, she'd only been here a day but she knew his transformation was the talk of the town.

Then Betty told her about her attempt to ask out Archie and immediately her rich bitch senses began to tingle. If she knew girls like Cheryl Blossom (and she did) then this after party guest list had been specially crafted for some hell raising. She had no doubt Cheryl could sniff out drama like a bloodhound and with Betty emotionally crippled she'd have to look out for her as best she could.

"It's game time at Chez Blossom kiddies!" Cheryl announced "We're going old school tonight. Seven minutes in heaven"

Great, this can't be good she thought.

"Who wants to tryst in the closet of love first? My vote is A for Archie" you could practically see the intent in her smile.

If only she had John with her, that would throw Cheryl off her throne.

"Wait actually-"Archie began to protest but Reggie cut him off

"Yes Andrews, yes! Go on" and just like that the decision was no longer Archie's. God, she hated teenagers.

"All right gather round kids" Cheryl ushered everyone into a circle "Let's see who's riding the ginger stallion tonight"

Cheryl picked a bottle off the table next to her and spun it on the carpet. Each rotation the bottle got slower and slower and even before it stopped Veronica had a dreadful feeling that she knew who sods law would pick. Naturally the bottle landed directly on Veronica, it wasn't even close enough to Betty for her to protest.

"Ohh shit yeah" Reggie yelled excitedly. Archie looked at her awkwardly from across the room.

"It's clearly pointing to, the new girl. This should be fun" Cheryl smiled icily at her and Veronica smiled back trying to muster more ice than that bitch.

"Umm I'm not doing this?"

"That's up to you" Cheryl said frustratedly "but if you don't the hostess gets to take your turn"

There it was. The impossible situation. If she went into the closet with Archie, Betty would never forgive her but better her than Cheryl Blossom. Who knows what lengths she'd go to in her quest to hurt Betty Cooper. It almost felt like saving Archie too.

"Fine" She grumbled and before she knew it her and Archie were locked in a less than spacious closet together. What exactly Cheryl expected them to do in the 3 feet of space that they had she'd never know but they had to pass the time somehow.

"I know her brother died and everything but Cheryl Blossom truly is the antichrist" Veronica whispered to Archie.

They both laughed awkwardly.

"So, do you miss New York?" Archie asked, it was clear he was trying his best to break the ice given the circumstances.

"It's been less than a week but yes"

Archie looked at his watch "six minutes and twenty seconds to go, you're turn"

It felt like they'd already been in here for hours.

"Ask me a deep probing question to kill time"

"It looked like you and Betty were having fun at the dance"

Archie's smile faded a little "Definitely we've been friends forever, my turn"

"I didn't ask my question yet" Veronica replied bluntly "Is that all it is? Just friends?"

"We're not just friends we're best friends, my turn" he insisted "Did you have a boyfriend in New York?"

Oh god, it's happening, please don't let him like me.

"No, My turn. Could it ever possibly become something more?"

"Are you asking for Betty or yourself?"

"For Betty" She replied firmly although part of her knew that it wasn't true "And you didn't answer my question"

"I have never felt whatever it is I'm supposed to feel with Betty"

She felt the impact of those words, it was a crushing blow for Betty and she knew that after this she'd have to go and tell those exact words to her and crush her herself. So why then for a second had she felt happy about his answer.

"Have you felt it though?" she asked tentatively "with anyone?"

"Yeah, this summer. You?"

"Maybe once" Her heart was beating so hard she was afraid it might burst from her chest.

"you're a little more dangerous than you look, aren't you?" Internally she was screaming, this was wrong. It was supposed to be Archie and Betty but it was as if the old Veronica was back at the reigns. Urging her on, urging her to indulge.

"You have no idea" The reply threw her off guard. What did he mean by that?

"Your turn" she found herself saying as she began to lean in towards him "Ask me a question, Archie. Ask me anything you want"

They were so close that their lips were almost touching now. She could feel the tension, the heat rising between them.

"We shouldn't do this" She breathed.

"We definitely shouldn't do this" he agreed.

Their mouths met and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Any guilt melted away, in fact almost everything melted away as she became lost in the moment. The closet, the people, her friendship with Betty. In that one moment none it existed, there was only her and Archie. Then it was over and she was filled with guilt like she'd never felt before. They backed away from each other. Archie checked his watch.

"Looks like it's time to leave" he said blankly.

They both slowly exited the closet, the moment still registering in her head. They walked into a room full of people who were staring at them.

"Nailed it" Reggie said under his breath.

At the back of the room stood Cheryl with an evil grin on her face.

"Where's Betty?" Veronica demanded

"She spiralled and fled" Cheryl said in a sickly-sweet voice "between us, she's a lot higher strung than she looks"

Anger exploded inside her "Your shady bitch"

Veronica stormed out of Cheryl's house with Archie in tow.

Archie tried calling her but clearly got no answer "Crap Betty's cell is off"

"I'm getting an Uber" Veronica announced.

"Can I come with you? We should probably find her"

"Believe me the last thing Betty wants is us tracking her down together. We messed up"

*Jughead's POV*

It was midnight when his old friend Archie Andrews arrived at the one place in town that was still open. It was also where he and John were having one of their meetups. After losing Archie in the summer John had become his number one compatriot, they'd meet for a burger, he'd read him the next chapter from his novel and John would update him on the Betty and Archie situation that was taking up most of his time. It annoyed Jughead that Archie was so oblivious to Betty's feelings. Then again Archie was making a habit of that so it was hardly surprising. After yesterdays interruption Jug and John had agreed to meet again after the dance but when Archie walked into the diner looking more worried than Jug had ever seen him, he knew that they'd have to reschedule again.

Jughead nudged John and pointed out his brother and together they watched as he approached pop at the counter.

"Hey pop, Betty hasn't come in, tonight has she?"

"No. Just the nighthawks in tonight"

"Thanks" Archie went to walk away then spied him and John in their booth. John beckoned him over to them and Archie reluctantly complied.

"Hey John, Jughead"

John looked up at his brother with concern "Why are you here, you said you were going to Cheryl's afterparty in your text"

"I don't want to go into it but I'm terrified I lost my best friend tonight" Archie said forlornly

Jughead chuckled "If you mean Betty, whatever happened just talk to her man, I would go a long way...would have gone a long way with me"

Archie's eyes took a sudden interest in the floor but John stood up and grasped him by the shoulders.

"What did you do? You know what never mind I know where we'll find her and its not here. Sorry jug looks like I'm needed again" John shook his hand before dragging Archie with him out of the diner.

Jughead shook his head, poor Betty.

*Betty's POV*

Betty was a wreck. She'd hadn't even been able to hear what had gone on in that closet but the images she formed in her head and the things the people around her had been saying was more than enough to make her spiral. This hadn't been how she'd imagined this night at all, she'd been sure that she and Archie had been meant for each other and that Veronica was one of the best friends she'd never had but now those dreams lay in pieces at her feet. She'd considered running to pop's and seeking out John and Jughead but she didn't really want to be around anyone right now, she was hurting to much so she'd gone back to the one place where she knew no one would first think to look for her. Her home where her mother would be waiting to say 'I told you so' until she died.

As she walked up her front steps, she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around to see Archie Andrews looking up at her. Her heart exploded all over again. They walked towards each other and all of a sudden it was like Betty knew what she needed to ask and how to ask it. The pressure was gone.

"I'm not going to ask what you did with Veronica at Cheryl's. I'm asking you now, right now, if you love me, Archie...or even like me?"

Archie took another step forward "Of course I love you Betty but I can't give you the answer you want"

"Why"

"You are so perfect"

There was that word again. God, she hated it and to hear it from him was like a punch to the stomach.

"I've never been good enough for you, I'll never be good enough for you"

And just like that the wall was up. Any hope she had was crushed in that sentence. He'd never want her because she was too good, she wasn't what he wanted and she couldn't change that, it was out of her control. She nodded and tried to think of something to say, some excuse to give even just a reason why he was wrong but for all her smarts she came up with nothing. Instead she just turned around and walked away, it was all too much. Her heart was broken and she wasn't sure if it would ever heal again.

*John's POV*

John couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Are you fucking insane? That girl was obsessed with you!"

They'd entered a full-on shouting match after Archie had walked into the house and told him that he'd just let Betty walk away. John just couldn't understand it. As far as he knew Betty was the best thing in his life and he couldn't fathom why he would turn her down. He was angrier at himself though if he was being truthful, all this time he'd been reassuring Betty that Archie did love her and now this had happened and John was left feeling like he'd been betraying her all summer.

"What was I supposed to do? You can't just go out with someone because they want you to, it has to be mutual and if I'd have said yes that's exactly what it wouldn't be. It's better for her in the long run"

"Betty would have done anything for you and it's not like your attached or bristling with options right now. It's not marriage Archie what could possibly stand in the way of you just giving it a go?"

Archie turned on him "Maybe I've got my eye on someone else?"

"WHO! Who the fuck cares about you more than she does because I can't think of a single person, is this why you bailed on Jughead this summer? For some secret girlfriend that you're now ditching Betty for as well?"

"John that's not fair and you know it!"

"Fair? I'll tell you what's not fair, that girl is up there with her heart broken because all summer long I've been reassuring her that it'll all work out in the end. How am I ever going to tell her that you care now?"

"you shouldn't have been doing that in the first place when you didn't know a thing, if anything it's your fault!"

John was about to bite back when his phone began to buzz in his pocket. Taking it as an opportunity to hold back from saying something he'd regret he whipped out the phone and read the message he'd been sent. Then read it again. He read it a third time just to make sure that what he'd seen was true.

"Oh my god"

"What now" Archie grumbled.

"Jason...Kevin found him...he was shot!"

Continued in Chapter Two...

Hey readers, that's chapter one done and it only took...11216 words give or take across all three parts but it was totally worth it, I love expanding out the inner monologue's of the character's and to me John is such a fun character to insert into the storyline. I know at the moment it feels like I'm just adding him in for the point of adding him in but I promise I've got some big plot points planned for him in the future that will change the way that we get to the ending of season one as we know it. Let me know what you guys think of John and since we're taking this show and rolling with it let me know what pairings you'd like to see even if the cannon couples do end up being together in the end.

Cheers for reading and I'll see you soon at the end of Chapter Two...


	4. Chapter 2 Part 1

Before Jason's body was found I think it's fair to say that most of the town had been silently hoping that Jason Blossom hadn't died on July 4th and that we'd see him with the football team at Riverdale High on Monday or in a booth with Cheryl at pops.

That of course was before the waterlogged body of Jason Blossom had washed up on the shore of Sweetwater River with a bullet lodged in its forehead. Now that Jason was well and truly gone only the cold steel blade of a coroner could hope to shed some light on his disappearance and his unfortunate demise. However far from the action Archie Andrews faced a choice, now made all the more crucial by Kevin's unfortunate find...

Archie's POV*

Archie tossed and turned in his bed but however he lay he simply couldn't fall asleep. The thought of the gunshot that he and Geraldine had heard at Sweetwater River that morning haunted him. He needed help, he needed advice and there was only one person he'd trust to help him out with this. Unfortunately, it seemed as if he'd all but ruined her and driven her away forever. Nevertheless, he couldn't just give up on her, she never would if it had been him.

Archie rolled onto his side, grabbed his phone off of his bedside table and wrote her a quick message.

R U up? Can we talk?

The reply came too quickly and it was crushing.

No...And no.

In one last desperate attempt Archie got out of bed and walked over to the window, sending her one last message.

Please!?

His heart lifted as Betty appeared in her window only for it to drop again as she shook her head and turned out her lights. It was his fault, he'd lost the only real friend he'd had and now he had to figure this out himself. He knew who he needed to talk to but he'd have to go now, while there was no one around...

Geraldine's POV*

She woke with a start. Someone was banging on her door hard. For a moment she was paralysed, what if he'd found her and had come to finish what he'd started. She tried to calm herself, there was no way that he knew where she was, there was no trail whatsoever.

Cautiously she climbed out of bed and walked down the stairs to the front door, taking a deep breath before flinging it open.

"Archie!? What are you doing here?" she hissed through her teeth.

"It wasn't fireworks that morning Miss Grundy it was a gunshot we heard" Archie pushed past her and walked into her kitchen.

"You can't come to my house" She said firmly.

He turned to look at her "What if it was the shot that killed Jason Blossom?"

She sighed "We know exactly what the police know: That a gun was fired, that a boy was shot! We don't know by whom."

"We know when it was fired! That's more than the police know"

She held up her hands placatingly "They're performing an autopsy, they'll find out soon enough"

Archie wasn't listening "We can call them anonymously"

Finally, all her frustration came out "This is not a negotiation. This is our lives! If anybody knows that we were there, I could lose my job...You could get expelled! We could both go to jail"

She stared into his eyes and inwardly sighed with relief. It was clear that she'd finally gotten through to him. She stood in silence looking at the conflicted form of her greatest mistake and she realised that from the start, the only way this relationship could have ended was badly...

Archie's POV*

He'd stayed most of the night at Grundy's, mostly to reassure her that he wasn't going to do anything stupid. Nevertheless, he still felt like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. It was like every fibre of his being was urging him to do the right thing and tell someone but then he remembered Geraldine and how much he cared for her and he just couldn't bring himself to do it. The same argument was still playing on repeat in his head when he approached his house. He checked his watch, his dad would be making breakfast about now so the front door was no longer an option but that wasn't a problem, he'd left his window open. What did prove to be a problem was that it was already in use, by someone very familiar.

"John?" he hissed as loudly as he could.

The face of his older brother turned around, his mouth open wide in surprise.

"Um, you're window broke...but I'm gonna...fix it?"

"What the hell are you doing out here? What are you following me on my night runs now too?"

John jumped down from the window and looked at him "No, surprisingly enough my life doesn't completely revolve around solving the cryptic puzzle that is Archie Andrews"

Archie looked him in the eyes, he looked guiltier than he'd ever seen him. Even guiltier than when he'd taken F. P's bike for a short spin into a tree.

"What were you doing then?" he demanded.

"I was meeting some friend's Archie now do you want to get in or do you want to get caught?"

A silent agreement passed between them and in no time at all they were both in Archie's bedroom closing the window. The smell of breakfast was strong and as much as he wanted to ask John more questions, he instead found himself walking downstairs and into the kitchen where his dad was feeding Vegas, the family dog.

"Morning Dad" They murmured in unison as they grabbed plates out of the kitchen cupboards.

"Hey Boys, Arch where did you sneak off to last night?"

Archie panicked. His dad had actually heard that?

"It was me who snuck out dad" John piped up "I was sneaking out to a late party, it was very last minute and I didn't want to wake you"

Thank god for John.

"Right well, no more moonlight strolls to parties or anywhere until they catch whoever it was that shot Jason. That goes for both of you, I don't trust this town these days"

Just as his father finished his warning, the doorbell rang. Archie got up to answer it.

"If it's Jughead please be nice and tell him I'll see him as soon as I can" John shouted after him.

Archie didn't know what he meant about being nice but that mystery dissolved as soon as he opened the door. There stood in front of him was Betty Cooper, the girl he'd rejected.

"Walk me to school?" She asked with a smile.

Betty's POV*

They walked in silence for the first few steps, neither of them really knowing what to say. Her mother had made Betty promise before she left that she wouldn't slide back to all her backstabbing friends. Obviously, she wouldn't be happy with this little 'walking to school' arrangement but to be honest, she didn't care. She was tired of her mother trying to control her life, she was going to deal with this in her own way and it started with re-breaking the ice between her and Archie.

"I needed time to process... to separate what my Mom wants from what I want. Well what I think I want"

"Which is?" Archie asked nervously.

"My mom says I should never speak to you again but I...even though you don't like me like that I still want us to be friends. Best friends"

"You do?"

"yeah" she said, his eagerness stinging her slightly. Some part of her was still holding onto the hope that he actually did like her. The minute she committed to being only friends was the moment that dream died.

"That's great Betty, me too" Archie was beaming and even though she'd effectively just cancelled out any chance of them getting together, his smile was enough to tell her that she was doing the right thing.

Now came the hard bit.

"I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt"

"And I'm sorry Betty" he blurted desperately "I didn't do it to be a... I don't know, I just thought it would be better in the long run"

"It will be Arch, oh and don't tell my Mom that we're friends again or she'll flip her lid completely"

Archie looked at her completely strangely and Betty just smiled awkwardly and kept walking.

Kevin's POV*

"Now that romance is off the table, I'll just say it. Are we one hundred percent sure that Archie's straight? Because no straight man has that body"

Betty had been telling him the details of the previous nights trauma or at least whatever she hadn't conveyed over text. She was an efficient writer but Kevin liked having all the juicy details. They were going to the office after Betty's name had sounded out over the speaker system commanding her to appear. Yet another day in paradise.

"Speaking of bodies, have you recovered from finding Jason's?" She asked.

"It was more traumatising having to explain to my dad what I was doing with Moose at the river. Yet another perk of being the sheriff's son"

They turned the corner into the office and there they were. The most beautiful arrangement of flowers Kevin had ever seen in his life.

"Oh, my god, those are gorgeous. Are they for Betty, Mrs Phillips?" he asked rushing over to see the tag nestled amongst the flowers.

"Well that's why I called her"

Kevin swallowed the word bitch and flipped over the tag.

"Dear Betty, please forgive me xoxo V. Who the hell is V?"

"Veronica" Betty said at the same time as another woman's voice behind him.

He span around to see Veronica standing in the doorway with a white box, she looked nervous. Behind her John stood, exasperated, as if they'd just had a lengthy argument over this very act.

"The yellows for friendship. I also had Magnolia cupcakes flown in from New York because as my mom likes to say there's no wrong the right cupcake won't fix"

"Well we're about to put that to the test" John said, pushing past Veronica to stand with them "I'm sorry Betty I tried to tell her that's not how you roll"

Betty just nodded and waited for Veronica to continue.

"Also, I booked us for hers-and-hers mani-pedis at Chez Salon. Blowouts too. I am so so sorry Betty. I don't know what happened to me that night, it was such a basic bitch move. It was like I was possessed by..."

"Madame Satan?" Kevin offered.

"The...old Veronica and I will never, ever do that to you again. I swear on my mother's pearls; can you please give me one more chance?"

Kevin watched as Betty's face twisted into a half smile "Okay"

"What!?" Kevin, Veronica and John said in unison.

"Awesome" Veronica bubbled "I'll take it and you won't regret it. I'll bring these to lunch so we can celebrate" The bell rang and Veronica gave them all one last smile before disappearing around the door.

Kevin turned to face Betty and gave her his best 'What in the fuck' face.

Betty sighed "It's the path of least resistance Kev. A week ago, Veronica and I weren't friends. Next week we'll nod to each other in the halls but that's it, she'll have latched onto some other girl to destroy"

Kevin sighed as Betty leaned over and smelled the flowers of Veronica's betrayal...

Archie's POV*

As Archie was walking the corridors the speakers crackled into life causing him to stop and listen.

"Good morning students" A deep voice said "This is your principal speaking, there have been many enquiries over the upcoming pep rally. So, let me state clearly, it is happening as scheduled. Now on a less felicitous note, I ask that you give your attention to Sheriff Keller"

Archie was immediately filled with a sense of dread, this was not going to be good.

"Most of you already know the details" Sheriff Keller began "Your classmate Jason Blossom was found late Saturday night, so as of the weekend Jason's death is now being treated as a homicide. It is an open and ongoing investigation"

The mic crackled loudly and suddenly the voice of Cheryl Blossom was sounding all over the school.

"May I interject? Neither I nor my parents will rest until Jason's death is avenged and his cold-hearted killer is walking the green mile to sit in old sparky and fry. I for one have my suspicions. Hashtag Riverdale strong"

Sometimes it was hard not to wish that the situation was reversed and that Jason was the one left to grieve. He'd been a good kid and even though Archie had never had much to do with him, he'd always admired him.

Sheriff Keller's voice sounded again after what sounded like an exasperated sigh "If you know anything that could help us apprehend Jason's killer or anything about what happened to him on 4th of July weekend. I strongly urge you to come forward immediately"

Sheriff Keller continued to talk about interviews but Archie wasn't listening. He did know something but there was no way he could tell them. He walked past the Principals office and looked into the window only to find himself looking into the eyes of Principal Weatherbee. He panicked and averted his eyes, shouldering his backpack and shuffling off towards the water fountain, his heart full of guilt and shame...

Jughead's POV*

Jughead had seen Archie's strange getaway from the Principals office and that was when it had all clicked in his head. The reason why Archie was acting so shady, why he was avoiding him. It was all about that weekend.

He approached Archie, who was at the water fountain, shovelling water into his mouth with his bear-like hands.

"Archie" he yelled "Weirdest thing, this summer we were supposed to go on a road trip. Over July 4th Weekend but you bailed at the last second. Is there something that you wanna tell me pal?

Archie didn't say anything he just stared into Jugheads eyes, almost like he was studying him...no that wasn't it. It was more like he was sizing him up. Without warning his friend turned his head and walked away leaving Jughead alone and facing the very real possibility that his ex-best friend, could be a murderer...


	5. Chapter 2 Part 2

Archie's POV*

Archie walked into Biology class, avoiding Jughead's stare as he entered the room. As he walked down the rows, he saw Cheryl, sat on her own and being confronted by two girls with malice glinting in their eyes.

"We were wondering Cheryl" One of the girls said in nasal voice "Back in July you told the po-po that Jason drowned"

"Yet" The other girl continued "We come to find out that Jason didn't drown. He was shot. Slightly suspicious no?"

Archie now had his back turned to the conflict as he stowed his bag under one of the desks but that didn't make it any less clear who it was that started talking next.

"Are you living manakins suggesting that I had something to do with my brother's death?"

There she was. Cheryl Blossom. The bluntest girl at Riverdale High. Thank god John wasn't here because his brother was certainly unpredictable around Cheryl. He might've defended her or accused her and he honestly couldn't settle on a prediction.

As Archie sat at his desk, he could see the faces of the two girls that had confronted Cheryl. They were playing a decent poker face but you could tell in their eyes that the directness of the question had thrown them off.

"We're just curious... what do the police think happened?"

"I'll tell you what I told them, which is that Jason did fall into the water. We both did. I made it to the shore, he didn't. Maybe he got to the other side and someone shot him there. Who knows?" Cheryl shouted that question loudly, as an accusation to the whole room.

Archie was afraid that the girls were going to push further, Cheryl looked like she was only seconds from storming out and if he was going to talk to her and find out how far they'd gotten in the investigation he needed her here. It was the one opportunity he had where asking to talk to her wouldn't be weird and suspicious.

Luckily just at that moment the Biology teacher walked in, demanding that everyone pair off and set up for the class dissection. He took his opportunity.

"Can I be with Cheryl?" he asked, taking the curt nod from the red-haired girl as a yes.

"Oh, and I wanna be with Betty" shouted Veronica from next to him.

Well that's going to be a fun pairing Archie thought to himself. As far as he knew Betty had forgiven her but the tension was definitely still there between the two. Despite Betty's protests she got stuck with Veronica after Moose stole Kevin, for reasons that Archie couldn't fathom. He picked up his bag and sat down next to Cheryl, making sure not to be too close to her. From what John had told him, she had a thing for personal space.

"Cheryl, we haven't talked since I came over to apologise for my brother in the summer, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about your brother" he spoke as calmly and as sincerely as he could but not so much that she suspected his fear of her fragility.

"Jason was the best" She said in a lower voice than he'd ever heard her use.

"If I can do anything to help"

"That's sweet Archie...but unless you were at Sweetwater River and know who shot Jason..."

Her face tore him up inside. Okay so he didn't know who shot Jason, he couldn't help her in that regard but he was still withholding information about that gunshot from her. Information that could prove valuable in her brothers' case. Guilt rose in Archie's chest as images flashed in his head of him at Sweetwater river, of the gunshot they'd heard and Cheryl, crying on a rock by the river, broken at the death of her beloved brother. It made it that much harder to ask his questions.

"Do uh...do you know if the police have any leads?" Archie's heart was pumping as he managed to spit out the question.

Cheryl looked at him with a mixture of disgust and confusion "What? No, you ghoul but it's only a matter of time and my twintuition is telling me, it's someone we all know"

Archie swallowed down the fear that had risen in his throat at Cheryl's words "Right... well I'm not great at science but I can take point on this if it's two weird for you"

Cheryl looked at him, confused "Weird why? Oh, you mean because my brother is being cut up right now with a blade just like this one? Possibly at this very moment? Don't worry I'm fine"

Cheryl turned to look right at the two girls who had interrogated her earlier, right before stabbing the scalpel she'd unwrapped right into the frog they were dissecting.

"In fact, I'm amazing" she said as she drew the blade down the frog's underside, cutting it open and getting a collected gasp from the girls in front.

Johns POV*

John was walking back from the construction site after another troubling day. Even after everything he'd done to protect his father's business it still seemed as if it was going to go down in flames, he'd had a quick peek at the books while his father was working with the guys and they weren't good. He'd have to figure something out.

He was still going over potential solutions in his head as he entered town, when out of the corner of his eye, he spotted someone familiar. Alice Cooper, Betty's mom. It was curious that she'd be away from the register's office when there was so much to write about regarding Jason's death. It was even more curious that she was going into the coroners. He waited so that she had at least thirty seconds on him before crossing the road and following her in. The coroners wasn't well lit and didn't have a reception. Why would it, Dr Curdle and his son were the only ones that worked there and they were both pretty gothic. He kept low to avoid the windows and followed the sound of Alice's footsteps down a short corridor, up some stairs and through a door into a dark operating theatre. The only light source in the room came from the LED lamp that was illuminating a body on one of the tables, where Dr Curdle was stood, so John scuttled into one of the dark corners and waited for Alice (Who was stood in the dark on the opposite side of the room) to speak.

To his surprise Dr Curdle spoke first "Every corpse has a tale to tell, step closer to the body"

Jesus, how did he do that. John was convinced this guy had supernatural powers or something. Alice didn't seem bothered though. She stepped out into the light, tape recorder in hand.

"There are several morbid details that you should find relevant to your article"

John had to supress a gasp. If she was here to write a story then there was only one body that could be worth a visit. Jason Blossom. He wanted to move and get a better look at the corpse to confirm his theory but he was afraid that Dr Curdle and his radar powers would notice.

Alice walked closer to the body and turned her tape recorder on "What details Dr Curdle? What sticks out to you?"

"Marbling of the veins, signs of scavenger activity. Ligature marks on both wrists and a hint of cryronecrotic preservation."

Alice handed Dr Curdle a small white envelope and leant closer "Small bills, right?" she said distractedly as she inspected the body.

As Dr Curdle stepped away from the body to open the envelope, he allowed John a better look at the cadaver, in particular the hair. It was muddy and matted but the colour was unmistakable, bright red. He bolted, he didn't even look back to see if he'd caught any attention, he just ran. He'd seen some fucked up things over the summer but this really took the cake. As he burst out of the coroners and into the street, he was thinking only one thing. He had to tell Betty before her mom published that article. If he didn't, it could be all out war between the Blossoms and the Coopers...

Betty's POV*

"So, what did Moose want?" Veronica asked Kevin in a sly tone.

Betty smiled, Veronica was certainly devious. She'd waited to bring this up all through Biology and only now when it was just Kevin, Veronica and Betty, walking to lunch, had she brought it up. If Betty hadn't had other things on her mind like Veronica's desperate quest to prove her friendship then she was sure that she would have broken much earlier on and asked.

"Oh my god" Kevin began, clearly glad that someone had finally asked "I don't even think he knows. I mean I am devastatingly handsome in that classic pre-accident Montgomery Cliff kind of way and sexuality is fluid but can someone called Moose actually be that fluid?"

"Okay" Veronica laughed "Well I ship it"

"Well of course you would, you're a big city girl with loose morals"

The reality of what Kevin had said only seemed to dawn on him after he said it and his face dropped.

"I uh...I just meant that Moose has an official girlfriend. Midge"

Betty tried to act as if she hadn't even realised what Kevin had accidentally eluded to and nodded innocently.

"Anyway, it's terrible to say but part of me wishes he would just stay in the darn closet"

And just like that Kevin's hole got magically deeper and right on cue he realised, just as they were approaching Archie's table.

"Obviously I didn't mean...the literal closet" he said weakly with a slight gesture towards Archie and Veronica.

Although it was painful to think about all that again, she couldn't help but smile inwardly. Kevin was one of those people who dug themselves into holes and instead of escaping, found ways to make it deeper.

They sat down and Betty watched Veronica eye up the guitar that Archie was holding.

"Archie" she exclaimed in dramatic relief "Any new material that you'd like to try out on a very forgiving audience" she asked throwing Kevin a glare.

"I uh..."

"Please" Veronica pleaded

Archie looked at Betty as if asking for permission. She smiled at him.

"Would you? I'd love to hear it"

He seemed to relax at that "I'm still working on the lyrics, so..."

He didn't need to finish the sentence, they were all friends here. He picked up his guitar and began to play. At first Betty was filled with happiness at hearing once more how brilliant his music was but as the lyrics began to flow, she found meaning in them. It was like every line was relevant to her own life and the war of emotions she was feeling inside at the moment. Tears began to well in her eyes as she stared at the boy that, only a day ago she was obsessing over. Now when she looked at him all she saw was last night, how it had all seemed to be going so well only for him to confirm her worst fears.

She couldn't do this anymore, she wasn't perfect like everyone thought. Betty knew that people expected her to forgive him and accept the fact that they were never going to be together but she didn't want to. She wanted to be selfish and this façade that she'd been putting on all morning had finally cracked...

Archie's POV*

Just as soon as he'd gotten into the rhythm of his latest piece, it ended and he was forced to accept that it definitely needed a lot more work. As he looked up though all those thoughts were swallowed by the sight of his best friend Betty Cooper, her eyes welling up with tears.

"Betty? You okay?"

She looked down and let out a small, sad chuckle "I'm supposed to say yes. That's what the nice girl always says but... I'm not. I...I want to be, I thought I could be, but it's too much too fast Archie"

She looked at him for a moment before she broke out in sobs and ran.

"Betty wait" he shouted after her, as he put down his guitar and ran after her.

"Come on, listen to me" he said placatingly as he touched her shoulder to get her to turn around.

" No. No when...When I think of where I feel safest and most myself, I think of us, in a booth at Pop's"

"Me too" he yelled desperately.

"But that's not true anymore. I thought I could pretend that this weekend didn't happen but... I can't give you the answer you want. That's what you said to me and that's how I feel right now, I'm sorry" She sobbed as she turned and bolted again.

Archie was about to follow when a deep voice from behind him yelled.

"Mr Andrews, if we could have a word in private"

He turned to see Principal Weatherbee looking at him intently. He looked back towards Betty but she was far away now, reluctantly he followed after his principal until they were in a more private area of the field.

"You're in a very good place right now Mr Andrews" Weatherbee began cautiously "Varsity Football, AP music tutorials, yet this morning in the hallway you wouldn't meet my eyes. Why?"

Crap. Well that solved the mystery of whether or not he'd noticed that little incident.

"I was distracted...I wasn't feeling well" he blurted.

"Archie, if there's something you want to get off your chest, perhaps about Jason, now would be the time"

What was this guy Psychic or something...?

"If I knew anything that would help with Jason's case...I would have told you already"

"Okay that's fine but Archie, you know if there's anything that you're keeping from me, no matter how big, I will do my utmost to protect you. You know, that right?"

"Of course, sir" he said nodding his head as Weatherbee studied him one last time before walking away.

As soon as he was out of sight, he bolted. He had to find Grundy, Archie just hoped that she wasn't in a lesson...

Jughead's POV*

As Jughead walked through the hall on his elaborate route to avoid Gym, all he could think of was Archie and what kind of predicament he was in. Like magic, a sound like thunder echoed towards him and there he was in the flesh, Archie Andrews. He was sweaty and looked like he'd ran all the way here, desperately he checked the window of Miss Grundy's room before bursting in. Jughead smiled to himself, it was like sometimes the universe just goaded him in his detective ways.

He cautiously walked up to the door and checked the corridor around him. It was empty, perfect. He placed his ear to the door and began to listen.

"...just asked me if I knew anything about Jason" Archie's voice was low but distinctive.

"And? What did you say?" came the panicked voice of the school music teacher, Miss Grundy.

"Nothing. That I didn't but he said that if I did, I shouldn't be scared and he'd make sure I was okay"

Jughead frowned, he knew Archie had to have some relation to the death of Jason Blossom based on his fourth of July theory but just how deep was he?

"Of course, he would, you're his student"

There was a strange silence before Archie replied.

"Is this... how you feel about me? Is it real? Because if it's not then I don't know what I'm protecting"

Jughead winced, his friend was in a relationship with a teacher and if that wasn't bad enough, he'd just opened himself up to manipulation by a predator in giving her an ultimatum. Of course, she was going to tell him it was real now. He had no cards to play.

"It is. It is real. Maybe it's not right but it's real. Which is why you can't go to Weatherbee. If you do, we will never see each other again" came Grundy's reply.

Jughead sighed, never try to play a game master. He couldn't stand just listening to this any longer, he had to see the monster that had ensnared his friend. When he raised himself up to look at them though, he saw them together. In a deep kiss and he knew that if he was going to confront his friend on this one, he'd need backup. He silently crept away from the door and began walking away down the corridor, pulling his phone out as he did. He smiled as he saw a message from exactly the guy he wanted to talk to.

Have you seen Betty, I need to talk to her and she isn't answering her phone!!

Jughead replied.

I don't know, sorry John but there's something I need you're help with. It's about Archie and it's serious.

Veronica's POV*

Despite Cheryl's speech of self-indulgence during Vixen practice she was feeling good as she sat down next to Betty to stretch while they waited for their glorious commander to return.

"After this I'll totally need a pedicure, you?" she asked Betty hopefully. After the drama at lunch she had been scared that she might be back on thin ice with Betty but she'd seemed fine with her while they were practicing for the pep rally and Veronica really wanted to be friends again.

"I'll have homework" Betty sighed

Ouch, not a good sign. She quickly switched topics.

"I know everyone's supposed to grieve differently but Cheryl's hosting a pep rally to cope with her loss. That's either brilliant or psychotic or both"

"Yeah well at least Cheryl's not putting on an act, pretending she's a butterfly when she's really a wasp"

Excuse me what? She knew that she was morally at fault but the old Veronica was starting to seep through, starting to give her ideas and insults that she'd vowed she'd never use again.

Veronica tilted her head at Betty "For the record the only reason I went into that closet with Archie was so that Cheryl wouldn't"

"Oh, so you did it to protect me?" Betty replied sarcastically.

"Damn straight"

"Okay so nothing happened between you and Archie in the closet, then?"

Veronica stumbled over her next comment, she was trying to play this reasonably but there really wasn't a reasonable response, at least not in her head.

"Yeah that's what I thought" Betty hissed, getting into her flow "You know Archie and I were fine before you got here!"

"If by fine you mean he was oblivious and you were pining after him in quiet desperation"

"We were friends at least"

"No, you were walking on emotional eggshells, scared to tell the truth"

"Okay, you don't know me Veronica"

In one unfocused second, Old Veronica finally broke through.

"It is not my fault that he doesn't like you!"

She instantly regretted it. Old Veronica retreated back inside her like a satisfied monster and she was left trying to pick up the pieces. She had to think fast.

"...If that's...what you're thinking. It's not anyone's fault. It's not even stupid Archie's, it's just how it is. Most of the time the people we like don't like us back. Romeo and Juliet are the exception not the rule. Look never speak to me again if that's what you want. I'll accept that but what exactly did Archie do wrong?"

Betty looked at her incredulously "Are you seriously taking his side!?"

"No, I'm not taking any sides"

"Is this your way of trying to get us to be friends again?"

"THE PUSSY CATS ARE GONNA ASSIST US AT THE PEP RALLY" Cheryl yelled jovially as she ran up to Veronica and Betty.

"Oh sorry, am I interrupting?" Cheryl said her voice dripping with intent.

Great here she comes to wreck the day, Veronica thought.

"No, you're not actually" Betty said as she looked at Veronica, her eyes venomous "I was about to come find you Cheryl, I have a gift certificate for hers-and-hers mani-pedis and blowouts at Chez Salon. Do you wanna come with me?"

Veronica shook her head "Don't do this"

"Butt out closet monster" Cheryl laughed "You have forfeited the right to take the high and mighty road. As pour moi Betty, but of course, I never say no to a pedi and I was just about to suggest the same thing"

She looked at Veronica with an evil smile "Can I steal her?"

Veronica gave Betty one last look as Cheryl took her hand and walked her away. Once Cheryl had gone it was pretty much an unspoken rule that practice was over so she quickly got changed and caught an uber over to Pop's to surprise her mother at her new job. It wasn't as if she had anything better to do now that a pedi was off the table.

She walked in the door and saw her mother in a yellow uniform collecting some plates from a table, she walked up to the desk and waited for her.

"You're doing great Mom" she called as her mother walked over "Better than me this week"

Her Mom sighed "Yeah, we're surviving Ronnie, by our wits because that's what we lodge women do. If your Dad could see us now..."

"He'd say, you look stunning in that new uniform"

Her Mom smiled at her "I'm going for this Joan Crawford-Mildred Pierce thing. Is it working?"

She laughed "Definitely"

The bell on Pop's door rang and Veronica turned to see Archie Andrews walk into the diner. They shared an awkward glance before they both looked away but her Mother had already caught on.

"And who might this heart breaker be?" She asked in a knowing voice. Veronica just shook her head in reply.

"I'm picking up an order for Andrews?" Archie asked, turning to face her Mom.

"Ah you must be Fred's other son, you're as handsome as your father was"

Veronica sighed, she did not want to be present when Betty's possibility of being with Archie took another hit.

"I'll see you at home Mom" she said quietly, not quietly enough though.

"Wait. I'm sure Archie would happily escort you"

Great. The nightmare scenario. Her mother handed over Archie's goods and before she knew it, she was walking back through the neighbourhood with Archie in tow. She had to say something but really the only thing they had to talk about at this point was Betty.

"Is uh... Is Betty still mad at you?"

He sighed solemnly "we're back to no texting, what about you?"

She smiled sarcastically "I'm back to being the shallow, toxic, rich bitch who ruins everything in her path. Which is unfortunate because even though I just met Betty, it really felt like we were meant to be best friends. Like it was our destiny or something and now...it's like there was this train that was heading to the rest of my life and I just missed it"

Archie looked at the floor for a minute, probably trying to figure out how to respond to something that deep.

"Well, Betty and I have been next-door neighbours since we were four. We've always gone to the same school, been in the same class" he laughed "I remember in the second grade I was having trouble reading and my teacher Mrs Gribrock told my Mom and Dad that I should stay back a year to get caught up. Betty was so against us not being in the same grade that she took it upon herself to tutor me every single day"

Veronica was starting to see how Betty was feeling hard done by. It was clear she'd been pinning after him for a LONG time.

"In the second grade" She asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, anyway when I passed, thanks to Betty. I kissed her and asked her to marry me"

Oh Archie, if only he could have understood what he'd done.

"She was like oh, little Archie, we're too young, ask me when we're eighteen and I'll say yes"

"Wow" she mumbled.

A dark look passed over Archie's smiling face "I hate that I hurt her"

That sentence was all the confirmation she needed, to know that he'd never been leading her on, that he'd never even known. Poor, stupid Archie.

"Giver her time Archie. That's all you can do. Don't despair, I don't think your story with Betty is over"

He looked at her doubtfully as they continued to walk back to the Pembrooke.

Betty's POV*

Cheryl had insisted on going over to Betty's house first, despite Betty's efforts to protest that her Mom would one hundred percent not approve. Now she was sat there as Cheryl gave her 'The Ultimate makeover'.

"Your rooms so sweet" She commented as she checked her makeup in the mirror.

"It's too pink. It doesn't feel right anymore"

"No, I like how girly it is, mine is too. You should come over and see it sometime but just you, not Veronica. I mean she must be evil incarnate if even you won't have her for a friend"

Cheryl applied more makeup to Betty's face as she chewed on what she'd said. Veronica was evil right? She deserved everything she got. She said it over and over in her head but every time she just couldn't imagine her voice saying it. Cheryl was right, Betty always saw the good in people, it was part of what made her the good girl, no matter how much she was tired of hearing it. It was part of who she was, the light side that fought the dark in her.

"On the topic of friends Betty, I'm sorry I've been such a witchy witch to you. After Polly and Jason's epic demise I was angry at everyone but I took it out on you which was super unfair. Especially since in a way, it's kind of like we both lost siblings. How um...How is Polly?" Cheryl's smile reeked of fake concern and Betty felt like she was in some kind of trap.

When Betty didn't answer Cheryl continued to ask questions "Is she still in that group home? Do you think she knows what happened to Jason? That he was murdered?"

Betty was struggling to process everything Cheryl was saying while trying to figure out her motive at the same time.

"I...I'm not sure"

"What do you think went down between them?"

"I don't know" This was getting frustrating now.

"What do your parents say?"

"About Jason and Polly? Not a lot"

"Same. I keep thinking that maybe Jason said something to her or she said something to him. I mean didn't they have a big fight this summer?"

Finally, Betty broke, she had to know.

"Why are you asking me so many questions about Polly?"

Cheryl's expression changed in an instant. All of a sudden that nice girl façade vanished leaving behind the cruel, vindictive features of the Cheryl Blossom she knew best.

"Because, you dumb cow. Someone shot my brother and I think it was your crazy tweaked out sister" Cheryl turned her back on Betty, checking her makeup in the mirror again. In her head the dark side of her started conjuring images of all the things she could do. Of all the things that she should do! Cheryl came here just to accuse her mentally ill sister of murdering her stupid brother when in reality Jason had been the real monster. The rage grew inside her and she stood up as the images in her head grew stronger and stronger. Dark Betty was in control now.

"Get out of my house" she said in low voice.

"Not until you tell me--"

"Cheryl get the hell out of my house. Before I kill you" she was close enough to Cheryl now that she could see the fear in her eyes clearly. She'd woken the beast and now? Now she'd face the consequences...

John's POV*

He and Jughead stood in waiting as Archie walked up the driveway. After Jugheads text they'd met up immediately and once they'd discussed what they both knew they'd managed to put together a pretty messed up narrative. Of how Archie Andrews had been seduced by Miss Grundy the music teacher and how he'd abandoned his friends all summer to be with her. How they'd gone to the lake on July 4th and found themselves somehow caught up in Jason's murder. Now was the time for answers.

"The mystery returns" John called out to his brother as he approached them.

"what is this John?"

"An ambush" Jughead said next to him stepping towards Archie "I saw you Archie, in the music room and I heard what you and her said to each other"

"Keep your voice down jug, my dad's inside" Archie hissed.

"He's not Archie don't worry, I checked but you need to start talking right now" John said, trying to stay as calm as possible.

"How long" Jughead asked incredulously "How long has this been going on for?"

"Since the summer"

"Jesus Archie. I'm your brother you could have come to me"

"For what?"

"Help? Advice? To make sure that you weren't making a huge fucking mistake?"

"Why would I need your help, she loves me and I love her"

John covered his face with his hands and turned away but Jughead kept pressing.

"so, she's the reason you've been acting weird this summer?"

Archie sighed "One of them"

"One of them?" John asked, turning back around "what's the other?"

"We were at Sweetwater river on July 4th. We heard a gunshot. The, gunshot"

Jughead looked at John in disbelief.

"You have to tell somebody! That's information that could bring peace to a grieving family"

"Yeah sure John, it's also information that could land Miss Grundy in jail. So, you can't tell anyone, if people find out—"

"A kid is dead Archie!" Jughead hissed "and you're worried about some cougar?"

"Don't call her that" Archie said, his voice dangerous.

"Come on Archie, I heard everything. She's the one who's telling you not to say anything right? She's manipulating you and it's working. You need to do the right thing like the Archie I knew would"

"You need to shut the hell up Jughead" Archie got up close to him "Or I'll—"

That was enough. John stepped between them pushing Archie back hard.

"Or you'll what? Your gonna hurt him, over my dead body Archiekins" He shoved him again.

Archie swung, a high punch with low velocity. John ducked and pushed him again, this time sending him sprawling back down the driveway. When he got up, he was angrier than John had ever seen him. He charged, grabbing John's waist and toppling them both to the ground.

John grunted as he tried to overpower Archie but he was at a disadvantage, he might have been older but Archie was far stronger. The red mist descended and suddenly John was taking a backseat, he put all his effort into rolling over, forcing Archie to the ground and springing John up on top of him. From there the red took over and before he knew it, he was punching Archie, over and over and over until Jughead pushed him onto his back and like magic, he was back in his own head. He stood up and looked at Archie, he was bleeding from his eye brow, lip and cheek but he didn't seem very hurt, more shocked and scared. He saw the same look in Jugheads eyes as he ran to check on Archie. Tears pricked at his eyes as the realisation of what he'd done hit him like a truck. He turned and began to walk away, his footsteps felt heavy. He'd reached the end of the driveway by the time Jughead grabbed his arm.

"John...what did you do?"

John just looked at him, his stare dead.

"I grew up with you John and I've never seen you in a fight. There's only two places in Riverdale where you could have learned to fight like that, where you could be as savage as that"

He shook his head "Look after him Jug, take him inside. You know where the first aid kit is. I...I need to be alone for a while"

"John..."

"LEAVE ME ALONE "John yelled as he ran off to the only safe place, he knew...

Betty's POV*

Betty was sat staring at the wall, she couldn't believe what she'd said to Cheryl and she was scared of what she might've done had her Mom not interrupted them and kicked Cheryl out.

Her door slammed open and her Mother walked in clutching some kind of burning herb.

"A little sage to banish the evil spirits" she bubbled, wafting the burning plant all around her room.

"Mom" she protested.

"I'm not joking Betty. That family is pure evil. I'm wondering if the Blossoms didn't kill Jason themselves. You know, sacrificed him to some dark pagan god that they worship"

"Mom...does Polly know about Jason?"

Her Mom turned away from her "I told her but half the time your sister dosen't even know what day it is"

"Why were you so against them being together"

"Many reasons. That family, everything they touch, it rots"

Now comes the big question she thought.

"Mom I was thinking... maybe it's time that I visited Polly?"

Her Mother stopped in her tracks for a moment before turning around and grabbing both of Betty's hands.

"I am so proud of how you stood up to that dragoness but honestly Betty what was Cheryl even doing here? And who's going to come waltzing in next? Veronica? Archie? How many times are you going to let them hurt you?"

She looked at her Mom with cold eyes "Until I learn my lesson Mom"

Her mother shook her head and walked away...

John's POV*

John nodded to the guard and lifted his sleeve to show him the tattoo of a skull that was hidden there. The guard chuckled and moved to unlock the door. He was wearing a leather jacket that was covered entirely in studs, so the movement caused a loud tinkling noise, like bullets being dropped. Once the door was unlocked the guard stood aside allowing him to walk into the building. He immediately descended two flights of stairs before walking down a long corridor into a mood lit room. The walls had big red sheets of silk hanging from them on which images of skulls were emblazoned. One of the walls had a door inset into it and behind it John could hear the familiar sounds of the tattoo pens being used. He ignored them and walked over to a small minifridge in the centre of the room, opening it and taking out a beer. Just as he did, he heard a chuckle from behind him.

"You're looking rough Johnny boy"

"I got into a fight" he replied bluntly.

"Oh yeah with who mate?"

"My brother" John stood up, but still didn't face the man addressing him.

"Ouch, that must have been fun...It's more than that though isn't it?"

John didn't reply he just cracked open the beer and took a big swig.

"Oh, come on John, I'm you're friend you can tell me"

He turned to look at him "I lost control Malachai"

Malachai chuckled again "John, losing control is what we do, we're Ghoulies. Chaos is what we thrive on. Now come on, the boss wants to see us about another job"

The words echoed in Johns head as Malachai put a rough arm round him and laughed...


	6. Chapter 2 Part 3

Veronica's POV*

Veronica was exhausted. She hadn't slept a wink last night because she'd been wracking her brain on what to do about Betty. It wasn't her or Archie that were the problem anymore, it was just Betty and whether or not she'd choose to forgive them. After their spat yesterday, she found that unlikely. She worried all the way through her morning routine and all through the car ride to school. She blindly walked to her locker forgetting, maybe the most important fact. That her locker, was directly opposite to Betty's. Panic rose inside her as she locked eyes on the form of her ex-best friend Betty Cooper. She looked tired, clearly her night with Cheryl had either been crazy or horrible and given the fact that this was Cheryl Blossom she was talking about, Veronica was willing to assume the latter.

She awkwardly shuffled over to her locker and opened it, cursing at the loud squeaky noise it made upon opening, she turned to see Betty looking at her. Well shit, she thought, this is how I die.

What Betty said next though, completely threw her off guard.

"You were right" she said solemnly "What you said about Archie...sometimes it's hard to admit things to yourself"

Veronica closed up her locker and turned to face Betty, she crossed arms for good measure. She desperately wanted to be friends again but Veronica Lodge wasn't one to come begging more than once. She needed to hear the right things from her first, if only to know that she was going to be okay.

"My mother is crazy" she continued "I'm afraid I'll never see my sister again, the boy I like doesn't like me back"

Veronica sighed "He may not be crushing on you Betty, but he does love you and he's legit miserable without you, if that's any consolation"

Betty managed a faint smile at that one.

"Anyway, my mom says that sometimes a friend is better than a boyfriend, maybe that'll be true for Archie"

And suddenly there it was again, that connection, that bridge between the two of them. It had been re-established by the admittance of a few hard truths and while they maybe weren't in best friend territory yet this was definitely a step in the right direction again.

"Veronica...did you see Archie this morning?" Betty asked sheepishly " I feel like I owe him an apology"

"I did run into him and believe me B after the night he's had, I think he'd welcome some good news"

"Why what happened" Betty asked, concerned.

"Well he told me he got in a big fight with his brother and it turned violent"

"John? Violent? That's two words you don't hear together often. It's got to be serious"

"Uh huh girl, if that wasn't bad enough apparently according to some of the boys, he's been MIA all morning, he's not even at the construction site"

"What's going on in this place, literally everything has gone over the edge"

Veronica watched as the cogs in that Nancy Drew head of hers turned over and over, if nothing else she was glad to be back on the team with Riverdale high's resident sleuth, whatever the case she'd always find the answers and that could one day, be very useful...

John's POV*

"Why the fuck are you dragging us back to school for?"

Malachai was starting to get on John's nerves, this was the fifth time he'd asked since they'd entered the building. It was worse that he'd insisted on bringing four or five of his 'friends' who specialised in hell raising.

"I need to talk to someone" he replied bluntly.

"What're we supposed to do, march into the student lounge behind you, Bulldogs won't let us get away with that"

John sighed "Then wait out here and try not to get beat on by some high schoolers in blue jackets, okay?"

"One of these days, imma slap you"

After the fight with Archie last night, John didn't think things could possibly get any worse but then the boss had pulled him and Malachai into his office and given them their first real target. Up until now he'd only worked small jobs for the Ghoulies like dealing or low-level thievery but this next job was dark and he wasn't sure if he was going to come back the same, either way he had no choice. They were against the clock to pull off this job. He wanted to talk to Archie though, if this job went bad it might be the last chance he'd get to straighten things out.

"Okay, student lounge is just through here, you guys wait for me"

"If you don't sort this fast, we're gonna set up shop here Andrews"

"No dealing and no trouble Mal, I'll be in and out, I'm an excellent negotiator"

With that he pushed open the door gently and walked into a whole world of commotion. Everyone was staring at what appeared to be an argument between Reggie Mantle and Jughead.

"What was it like suicide squad? When you shot Jason? You didn't do stuff to the body did you?"

Reggie Mantle, the most creatively offensive person at Riverdale High. This was going to be an interesting visit.

Jughead smiled at Reggie "It's called necrophilia Reggie; can you spell it?"

Reggie's face went from cruel to dangerous and in an instant, he was on his feet and squaring up to Jug. John prepared to jump into action, but he didn't have to. Suddenly Archie was there, shoving Reggie back and getting in between the two.

"Shut the hell up Reggie"

Reggie, for his part, managed a smile "What do you care Andrews?"

"Nothing, just leave him alone"

If Archie had been talking to anyone else, they would have backed down, but Reggie was on home turf and surrounded by his crew, he wasn't afraid of anyone right now. John knew, as much as he hated working for them, it felt the same way rolling with the Ghoulies.

"Holy crap, did you and Donnie Darko kill him together? Was it some sort of pervy blood brother thing?"

Reggie got right up in Archie face, his big mistake. Archie shoved him back but Reggie charged forwards smashing Archie against the vending machine behind the, before toppling them both to the floor. Unfortunately, it was Reggie who came up on top, straddling Archie so that he couldn't move and hitting him hard across the head.

"HEY" John shouted "What do you think you're doing Mantle"

Reggie looked round "Do you want some too?"

As Reggie stood up his teammates, stood up with him, but John wasn't afraid.

"You don't want to do that, I'll just take my brother and leave" John said calmly, he wasn't about to get into another fight after last night.

"You can't just put on some weird jacket and come in here to run my show Andrews, you're done"

Well, he knew wearing his Ghoulies jacket was gonna be a bad idea, the gang was small at the moment. No-one feared it but after tonight this black jacket with the skull on the back would be a lot more than just a fashion statement.

Reggie and his goons were approaching him now and like clock work as they got close to him, Betty, Kevin and Veronica who'd been sat to the side of John ran to join Jughead at Archie's side. John sized up Reggie, he doubted he'd beat him up , it was all talk. Then again it wouldn't hurt to take some of the wind out of Reggie's sails.

John whistled, loud and clear.

Reggie laughed "What the hell was that supposed to do?"

"Nothing" John said nonchalantly "Just thought you should meet my friends"

Right on cue Malachai and his Ghoulies entered the room from behind him. They looked sinister in their dark clothing and immediately Reggie took a step back. Some of the Ghoulies flicked out pen knives.

"Woah man, woah" Reggie called out

"Me and my friends don't want any trouble Reggie" John said lowly "We just want Archie, so why don't you move on"

Reggie and his boys almost trampled each other trying to run out of the room. John immediately rushed over to his brother. Betty, Veronica, Kevin and Jug were already at his side.

Betty looked up at him "John...Who are those guys, what are you wearing?"

John sighed "They're Mal's guys Betty, I'll explain...soon I promise but right now I need to leave and I need to know Archies gonna be safe with you guys while I go do something... risky"

"Safer than he would be with you" Jug retorted, his hands shaking in anger "I know a gang when I see one John, after all those stories about my dad... you went ahead and joined one?"

"It's more complicated than you think Jug, They have me right where they want --"

Principal Weatherbee's voice boomed out over the speakers, cutting him off.

"JOHN ANDREWS TO THE PRINCIPLES OFFICE IMMEADIATLY"

Betty looked into John's eyes and made a fast judgement "Go John, he's good with us, we won't tell him, just go"

John went to leave but Betty grabbed his arm "First opportunity you get though, you're explaining everything to me"

"of course," John said quietly before turning to Malachai and the boys "Let's go guys"

"Excellent negotiator my ass" Malachai muttered as they fled the student lounge before they were caught...

Archie's POV*

Archie was sat in his kitchen holding an ice pack to his face. After his run in with Reggie he'd woken up in the student lounge as Betty, Veronica and Kevin were trying to prop him up. Jughead was no where to be seen. He didn't blame him, defending Jughead didn't make them even.

After that the girls had walked him home and here, he'd been, waiting for that tell-tale sound of his Dad's truck pulling onto the driveway. He'd pulled a late one at the office last night so he hadn't seen the results of his fight with John and if Archie was being honest, he didn't want him too. It would better in the long run as it would protect Miss Grundy and more than that he didn't want his Dad to ever see the side of John that he'd seen last night. A side that scared him.

"I hate to ask this but did you get that in a fight with Jughead?"

Archie looked up to see his Father walking through the door.

"No why would I be fighting with Jughead?"

"Well he was here last night before I went back to the office, he was looking for you and he seemed pretty angry"

"Well, it wasn't from Jug, I got it in a fight with Reggie. Dad...Jughead's angry because... Well there's this girl..."

"There usually is" his Dad chuckled.

"Well Jughead thinks I should do something, because it's the right thing to do and I've realised that I agree with him but the girl says that If I do this thing, it'll ruin what we have...that didn't make any sense did it" Archie sighed.

His Dad looked at him for a moment "You know this is the most honest talk we've had in a while... and I'm glad that you wanna do the right thing. I can see that even under the shiner but Archie if you know that it's the right thing to do, no matter what it'll cost you, you have to do it son"

Archie nodded and for the first time in a long time, he knew exactly what he had to do...

Jughead's POV*

The Pep rally wasn't really Jughead's scene but after the last couple of days he felt as though he had to keep an eye on Archie around school, even if he was basically headlining this whole event. He'd taken up a lonely position to the side of the stands, leaning against the wall. From there he could see Archie, the Bulldogs and the Vixens running around like headless chickens making final preparations.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Archie walk over to the refreshments table where Miss Grundy was stood. Let the manipulation begin, he thought, turning away from the sad scenario and partly wishing that he'd never found out to begin with or at least that he hadn't gotten John involved.

It was funny, Jughead spent most of his time investigating yet he'd never once thought to investigate one of his best friends. He'd been so caught up in trying to help Archie that he'd clearly missed that John had been in trouble. Now he was part of a gang but why? What help had they offered him?

Jughead cast a quick look back over towards Archie and was surprised to see him approaching.

"Girl trouble?" he asked as Archie came to stand in front of him.

Archie took a deep breath "Grundy and me. We're telling Weatherbee or at least I am"

Jughead raised his eyebrows "John must've really beaten some sense into you"

"I need you to know Jug, I would never have hurt you and I didn't mean any of the crap I said...I was just messed up" Archie looked at the floor.

"Archie you're not messed up but you are in a difficult place and I'm glad you're back on form and making the right decisions again. It's right on time really because I need you to help me, help your brother"

Archie nodded "We've never fought Jug and I've never seen him that way before, it was...scary"

"I'll bet, I was terrified and I wasn't even getting beat on. Look he really came to the rescue earlier...in you're fight with Reggie. He made us promise not to tell but you'll likely hear it from someond soon so..."

"What's he hiding"

Jughead hesitated, John had been his friend for so long.

"Jug" Archie reiterated "What is my brother hiding"

"He's joined a gang Arch, he said it's complicated. I think...I think he's in trouble. Deep trouble. So, care to team up" Jughead extended his hand "We good?"

Archie smiled "Jughead, we're good. After this rally, I promise I'll help"

They shook hands and for a moment Jughead felt like hugging him. He had his friend back, he'd coaxed him from the ledge, now it was just time for the other Andrews brother...

Veronica's POV*

The Vixens were lined up, Mayor McCoy's speech was ending. It was nearly show time.

"—Jason Blossom, we're with him tonight. Now please join me in welcoming our very own River Vixens and their special guest stars, my daughter, Josie and her Pussycats"

There was the cue, Josie started singing and immediately everything that they'd practiced started to come together in her head, everything was a strange blur, one minute she was next to Betty, the next she was walking slowly past Cheryl waving her arms, but all the time the adrenaline of the crowd kept her going. Then as quick as the routine had started, it ended and she was following all the other vixens over to the banner that the football team was supposed to run through. She watched as Cheryl got up on stage and hugged Josie before giving the microphone over to Coach Clayton.

"All right, you all ready? Let's make some noise and put your hands together for the Riverdale Bulldogs!" he yelled into the mic enthusiastically.

Veronica braced herself as she heard the thunder of the running Bulldogs behind her just before they burst through the banner with Archie in the lead. She yelled with joy along with the other vixens as the crowd went wild for the varsity team. She cast a quick look up at the stage but Cheryl caught her attention. She was staring at Archie, a look of horror plastered over her face, tears forming in her eyes. Veronica was about to go up there when Cheryl dropped her mic and bolted, running back across the empty field behind the stage, towards the girls changing rooms.

Veronica dropped her side of the banner and took off after her at full pelt, however horrible Cheryl Bombshell had been to her and her friends over the last few days, it was clear that she needed help right now and the new Veronica wasn't one to refuse it to anyone she knew.

When she finally caught up to Cheryl it was in the women's locker room, she was sat on the end of one of the benches sobbing.

"Cheryl?" she asked gently "What is it? What happened?"

"Jason...he's gone"

Suddenly it all made sense, Archie had been wearing Jason's number and with that red feathertop he must have been giving her serious blasts from the past. Cheryl wasn't as strong as she'd like everyone believe apparently.

"I know" She said softly "I know he is"

"Cheryl shook her head "No, you don't. You don't understand. He was supposed to come back"

He was supposed to come back? She mouthed the words to herself but they didn't make any sense. Jason died suddenly, how was he ever supposed to come back?

"I'm alone" Cheryl whispered as she broke down entirely, her whole body convulsing with the force of her sobbing. Veronica just held her as best she could and hoped that in time Cheryl would be okay.

"You're not alone" she whispered...

Betty's POV*

After a long and strange day Betty and Veronica were sat in a booth at Pop's with a couple of milkshakes. Betty had followed Veronica when she'd ran after Cheryl and after seeing the way that she'd comforted a girl that only a day ago had been insulting her without mercy, something had shifted something inside of Betty. In that moment she'd realised for the first time who the better girl out of the two of them was and it pained her to admit it but it was Veronica. So, she'd wiped the slate, invited Veronica out to Pop's and realised that this was a friend that she needed in her life. Veronica was the kind of person that everyone would need at some point or another and she should feel lucky that they were friends.

"Not many girls would have done what you did...for Cheryl I mean" she said to Veronica lowly " I mean just the other day she was being so mean to you"

Veronica chuckled "Full disclosure, I've had my share of emotional breakdowns and I know how hard it can be to think that your alone"

Betty smiled.

"Betty, can we make a vow?"

"A vow?" Betty asked, confused.

"Yeah, that no matter what, no boy will ever come between us again. Deal?"

Betty laughed "Deal" she said "Definitely"

They clinked their milkshake glasses together and laughed. In that moment Betty realised what she'd been missing her whole life. She'd been so busy chasing after Archie that she'd never really had a best girl. She'd never really had someone that she could make a vow with or trust that deeply to do so in the first place. This was the start of something good and she hoped it would last for a long, long time.

Behind them the bell to Pop's rang and Betty turned to see Archie and Jughead. They looked as if they'd been in deep conversation.

"Do you guys wanna join us?" Betty asked

"Well, we were kinda hoping that you'd help us, you see Jughead has this plan—"

"we're going to find John, and whatever reason he's got for being that gang we're going to take care of it. You guys in?"

Betty looked at Veronica and together they both smiled.

"we're in"

"Then let's make this official, the saviours circle. Everyone put your hands in the middle" Archie said slipping onto the bench next to Betty as Jughead did the same on the other side.

Together they piled their hands in the middle of the table, together, they were going to save him...

Narrator*

As the four friends sealed themselves into this righteous quest you might have mistaken them for a team that had worked together thousands of times before. The problem was that the pieces did fit together, too well and as they made their vow under the protective glow of Pop's neon sign, John Andrews was stalking different streets with much darker intentions on his mind, not knowing that there was still a chance of salvation. Not knowing that the saviours circle was a bond that would be forged this night, and would remain strong for many long years afterwards.

Among all of their own personal demons they'd come together to save a man who'd been ensnared by corruption but they didn't know just how the deep, the rabbit hole that John Andrews had fallen down, truly was...

AUTHORS NOTE_

Hi guys, this chapter is going to be a little in that it's going to have a fourth part that will be coming out soon. This next part is going to be a strange one because it will be completely off script, meaning that I won't have any episode up to follow and it will instead focus more on this Ghoulies storyline that I've been trying to elude to within the storyline. I have big plans for John but I really need to flesh out this next bit if he's going to fit back into the script of season one. I hope you don't mind me going off on my own a little bit, sorry. I'll do a proper Authors Note at the end of the next part when we actually finish Chapter two and that will address some issues that people have had and some things that I feel you should know but until then, thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next part which should be interesting to say the least...


	7. Chapter 2 Part 4

*Johns POV*

John was in the dark, hiding. He was in a long hallway, in front of him was a large white door which was open just a crack. It was through this crack that John saw his target, a dark-skinned woman with long brown hair. She was having a frantic argument with a grey-haired man, Sheriff Keller. They both had their backs to him, as they were reading some kind of map that was on the table. Now was his chance, from the inside of his coat he pulled out the pistol he'd been hiding. It was cold in his hand.

Grasping the gun tightly he stood and kicked open the door making both Sheriff Keller and the woman jump. John aimed and fired at the sheriff, the first shot hit him in the shoulder and he went down screaming. John fired again, this time hitting the Sheriff in the head. Silencing him.

In Johns head he was screaming at himself to stop but it was like he'd been locked away in his own head. He watched through his own eyes as the brown-haired woman cowered in front of him. John pointed his gun at her, his hand shaking.

"Don't do it!" John tried to scream at himself but it didn't work. John watched in horror as he pulled the trigger again and again and again until the gun clicked empty. Suddenly John was back in control. He dropped the gun and backed away from the body that was now bleeding out onto the floor.

He went to run but stopped in his tracks when he turned to see Archie and his Dad.

His Dad shook his head at John "what have you done"

Tears began to flow down Johns face "Dad I didn't have a choice..."

"But you pulled the trigger" Archie countered

"You're no son of mine" His Dad yelled as John broke down completely...

"JOHN!"

John's eyelids flickered open, Malachai was stood over him and he looked annoyed.

"Fucks sake man you sleep like the dead"

John sat up and took a deep breath "What do you want Malachai"

"Well I kinda need you here for the planning but I've also heard you screaming 'It's not my fault' in your sleep"

John got up and slipped on his Ghoulies Jacket "It's nothing"

"John, you know why you have to do this right. If you don't our families suffer. Your Dad dies, my Gran gets crucified...it's the end for us"

"I know what's at stake Malachai, get me the plans on the Mayor's house, I want to go over them again"

*Jughead's POV*

He'd given Archie, Betty and Veronica places to look for John but if he was honest, he'd pretty much sent them on a wild goose chase. There was only one man who knew the gangs in this town like the back of his hand and only Jughead would be able to get close to him because only Jughead knew his secret. He had to see his father.

His dad was a leading member of the Serpents, if anyone would know what gang John had joined and what their plans were, it would be him but he hadn't talked to his father for over a year now. Not since he'd left home to get away from him. That's why, at the door to his father's trailer, he hesitated. There was no question that linking back up with his dad was worth it to save John but there was still a part of him that didn't want to see his father ever again.

"Well well, this is a surprise" said a familiar voice from behind him.

Jughead turned to see his father, half drunk and stood at the bottom of the stairs that led up to his trailer.

"To what do I owe this pleasure, Jug" his father said staggering up the steps towards him.

Jughead backed away "I need your help, well, your intel at least"

"My intel?"

"I know the Southside Serpents must keep tabs on all rival gangs in the area, have you ever seen a gang that flys the flag of a skull"

His dad chuckled "yeah loads but here in Riverdale there's only one, the Ghoulies. They're a small bunch of people but they used to be a part of a much bigger clan called the Deadfalls"

"Well what happened to them"

"Well when Riverdale's very own Sierra McCoy announced her candidacy for Mayor of Riverdale the Deadfalls were hired to ruin her campaign. They were the reason that the election was so hard for her. When she finally got elected, she came down hard on the gang and pretty much dissolved the whole thing"

"The Ghoulies were the only survivors? Dad somehow John Andrews has managed to get involved with them, you didn't happen to hear anything through the grapevine about that did you?"

His dad rubbed his chin and paced past Jughead "Well no, but we did hear that the Ghoulies were going to make a move on someone big in Riverdale and that they were going to use two fresh members to do it. I'm assuming that must be John and another...as for who the target is, well, I couldn't tell you but my best guess would be Mayor McCoy"

"It would be an obvious move, they have a big motive" Jughead sighed and started to walk away when his father grabbed his shoulder.

"You can't go after him. If they've set him up for assassination there's no telling what he might do"

Jughead snorted. As if his Dad actually cared "I'm going after him dad whether you like it or not. He's been there for me, when you weren't. Even if I can't stop him, I have to at least try"

His dad sighed "At least check in with one of my spies, Joaquin. He's set up outside the Mayor's residence to see if anything actually goes down and to make sure they don't pin it on the serpents. Don't go in blind"

Jughead nodded and pulled away from his dad, walking away fast as tears pricked at his eyes...

*Betty's POV*

"They have to be making a play for Mayor McCoy" Jughead explained.

Jugheads information was suspicious but it did make a lot of sense. Betty made a mental note to ask Jughead later about where he'd sourced his information. After what had happened to John, she knew that anything suspicious was definitely worth investigating but one problem at a time.

"Are you sure the information's good?" Betty asked.

"Trust me, the guy I got it from is a dick but he's trustworthy on this" Jughead replied giving her a look that begged her not to ask any more questions.

"Well it's the only lead we have" Archie said defeatedly "Everywhere we looked, he isn't there and I've tried calling him a hundred times but it just goes straight to voicemail"

"So, what's the plan" Veronica asked.

"We camp out the Mayor's residence and wait to see if he shows up unless we manage to find out anything else. My guy's spy says there's a secret way into the building through the disused wine cellar underneath. The hatch is sealed but it wouldn't take more than a crowbar to loosen it" Jughead said.

"That's where we camp then"

"No Veronica, we need to make sure that we don't dedicate our recourses to one place. You and I will be back on research. Maybe your mom might know of some other high-profile targets in Riverdale that fit the bill...although how we'd ask her, I have no idea"

"So, me and Arch, camp out the place and you ring us with any developments. It's the only plan we've got so it's worth a shot"

Jughead gave Betty the location of the cellar entrance then he and Veronica left, leaving Archie and Betty alone to catch John before he made the biggest mistake of his life.

*Archie's POV*

Archie sat with his back against a tree, trying desperately to stay awake. He and Betty had been sat in the same spot at the mayor's house for hours, if they hung around for much longer, daylight would break. Jughead had called earlier to say that he'd had a really awkward conversation with Veronica's mom but found out very little. Turns out that a lot of Riverdale's rich and famous didn't tend to hang around in Riverdale this time of year. There was the Blossoms but the Deadfalls had never had any grudge with them so it didn't make sense.

Just as Archie thought he was going to doze off his phone vibrated in his pocket.

"It's Jughead" he told Betty.

"Tell him to bring blankets and some coffee" she groaned.

Archie chuckled and answered the call only to be graced immediately with Jughead's panicked shouting.

"Archie? Hurry up and answer"

"What's up Jug"

"Archie he's coming your way, we were coming back to you when this van going way too fast, just nearly hit Veronica out of nowhere but Veronica swears on her life Arch. It was John in the driver's seat"

Bright lights flashed behind Archie and he turned around.

"Uh Jug, that van. What colour was it?"

"Green" Jughead panted.

"Shit, he's here. Betty, we have to hide, Jug get here"

Archie stretched out his arm and grabbed Betty's hand pulling them both behind a large 'Private Land' sign. They watched as two men in ski masks and Ghoulie branded black, denim jackets climbed out of the van. One of them held a crowbar and immediately sought out and went to work on the hatch.

"We need to get to them" Betty hissed trying to move but Archie held her back.

"No, that guys got a crowbar and last time I made John angry it wasn't good, if we're gonna face them then let's do it inside the Mayors house where we can sound the alarm if things go sideways"

Betty nodded reluctantly and turned back to watching the two men who were struggling to open the hatch. Finally, with a lot of effort they managed to lever it open and climb inside.

Archie held Betty back for a few more seconds before whispering

"Now, go"

Together they snuck over to the hatch and climbed inside. The wine cellar was pitch black but like a true detective, Betty managed to fish a torch out of her backpack. It was clear that the room hadn't been used in decades and as Betty shone the torch over the floor, the footsteps of his brother and the other man were marked clearly in the dust. They followed them through the room and up to a door that was open a crack. It had been pried open from the inside and a faint light from outside of the door highlighted the evidence.

Archie went first and crept out of the cellars and into a short hallway, slowly he looked around until he felt cold metal touch the back of his head.

"Don't move, hands where I can see them" a whispered voice from behind him said.

Archie complied, giving Betty a signal to stay hidden as he did so.

"Who are you" The unmistakeable voice asked.

"Someone who's trying to save you" Archie said calmly, turning around to look into the wide eyes of his brother.

"Archie?" John hissed "What the hell are you doing here"

"WE followed you" Betty said, coming out from behind the door.

"Betty? Fuck" John hissed "You both need to leave, now" John gestured with his gun.

"We can't do that bro, I know what you're going to do and if I have to stop you, I will"

"Archie if you don't leave, I will fucking shoot you okay? You don't understand anything, I'm doing this for all of us. If I don't do this then you, dad, hell even you Betty, will all die. Anyone I care about won't be safe if I don't do this"

"We'll figure it out John, just please come back with us. The John I knew would do the right thing every time even if it meant sacrificing everything, you don't want to do this" Archie said placatingly while moving to block John's way forward.

"Archie" he warned, the gun in his hand shaking and tears forming in his eyes.

"If you want to get to the Mayor then you have to go through me" Archie said defiantly.

"wrong" came a menacing voice from behind him followed by the click of a gun being loaded.

"Malachai" John said to the guy behind Archie "Back off, he's my brother"

"Are you kidding me Andrews, this guy's gonna blow our whole operation, I won't condemn my family to death over your brother"

John lowered his gun and moved to stand next to Archie, who was still facing the wrong way.

"I said back off" John growled.

For a moment there was silence, then all hell broke loose. Archie was shoved aside into a wall, he looked up to see John and Malachai locked in a deadly wrestle. Johns gun must have been knocked out of his hand because it was on the floor now and Betty was scooping it up to stuff into her bag. Archie had only looked away for a second but that was all it took. A loud bang echoed through the hallway, Archie looked back at John just in time to see him collapse to the ground clutching his side as Malachai ran off down the corridor.

Archie and Betty rushed over to Johns aid but it was immediately clear that he was beyond their ability to help. John grasped Archie's hand tightly.

"Stop him, do the...right...thing" John said through gritted teeth.

Archie looked at Betty "Get him out of here, the same way we came"

He didn't give her anytime to argue with him and tore off down the corridor after Malachai, checking each door to make sure it wasn't open. The gunshot would have woken up the entire building so Malachai would be looking to make a quick kill while Mayor McCoy was still in bed and defenceless.

He turned a corner and heard a familiar scream from up ahead. Josie. He sped up until he found the open door leading into Josie's room. Inside he saw Josie sat up in bed, her eyes full of tears and terror as Malachai pointed his gun at her. Archie charged him from behind and tackled him, sending them both toppling to the carpet. Malachai was the first to react but when he couldn't find his gun he turned and made for the open window. Archie made a grab for his leg but Malachai kicked out at his face, making him roll out of the way. When Archie got up again Malachai was gone...

*Narrator*

Moments after Malachai's unfortunate escape Mayor McCoy and her doorman found Archie and Josie in that room, Archie did his best to explain away the incident with a story about how he and his friends had been trying to track down someone who had mugged him earlier that day and that the trail had led them to here. Seeing that Malachai was going to break in Archie, his brother John and his friends had decided to take matters into their own hands and follow him. Unfortunately, Malachai had caught them, shot John and got away. After that Josie corroborated the story of how Malachai had threatened her and just like that, John was on the right side of history.

At least that's what the town thought as he received treatment at Riverdale General for his injury but as he lay in hospital John knew what he had nearly done and he was also all too aware of the consequences that he had now incurred upon his loved ones as a result of his failure to complete his orders.

However, as the long nights turned to day three times over that weekend John's anxiety began to ease as he began to believe that maybe, he was finally free. He couldn't have known the fury that was about to be brought upon him.

Meanwhile Monday brought a day of reckoning for Archie, who's focus now returned to telling Principal Weatherbee his darkest secret but he would instead find himself watching as Cheryl Blossom was brought in for questioning, giving only one explanation to her class mates, that she was guilty...

_AUTHORS NOTE_

Hi everyone, sorry that this part was a bit shorter than the others but I didn't want to do a massive part that was completely off script because that's when we start deviating a bit too far from the source material. Anyway how do you like how John's story with the Ghoulies is turning out? I'm quite excited with this new direction that we we're going in and if i'm honest I've got some major re-thinking to do. Originally I was going to have John kill someone for the Ghoulies but as I was writing this I kinda went back on myself because it didn't feel right for his character. Ghoulie or not, John is still an Andrews and that means that at his core he is a good person.

Anyway I said I was going to address a few things in this note so lets get right onto that. First up there was a question from the wattpad version about Johns casting so for credits sake here's the casting list for all of the main six too because they are all talented people that I love:

Veronica Lodge: Camilla Mendes

Betty Cooper: Lili Reinhart

Jughead Jones: Cole Sprouse

Archie Andrews: KJ Apa

John Andrews: Eddie Redmayne

Kevin Keller: Casey Cott

Cheryl Blossom: Madeline Petsch

I'll do a full cast list at the end of each season to give maximum credit to the talented people that have worked on the real show.

Another thing I wanted to address was couplings in the story, I have got some loose plans for relationships outside of the regular script and how they're going to pan out. John's first romantic storyline for example is coming very soon but as I said in the book description I am also taking suggestions on what couplings you'd like to see as we go along. I will try to pencil them all in somewhere as long as they aren't completely ridiculous and yes I get to be the judge of that ;p

Finally if any of you have any characters that you have made and you love, that you want me to write into this story then please hit me up in the comments or elsewhere and give me a description of them and what role you'd like them to play within the story. I will try to include them all but obviously I will have to draw the line in some places eg. please add the Master Chief.

Thanks for reading , please don't forget to comment as I love reading and replying to them.

See you in the next part and Terrah.


	8. Chapter 3 Part 1

As the shadows around Riverdale deepened the lines between good and evil began to blur. Take for example John Andrews a man who only a few days ago had been prepared to kill the towns mayor in cold blood. He lies in bed at Riverdale general hoping that his family is safe from harm. If the town knew the truth, would they commend him as a hero for protecting his family or would they condemn him for the dark thoughts that had been injected into him by a brutal gang leader and his threats. The truth is there was no right choice.

Much the same could be said for Cheryl Blossom.

"I'm guilty" she'd said in biology class, but of what?

*Cheryl's POV*

She could feel sheriff Keller's gaze on her. She'd admitted in front of her whole class that she was guilty and she was, but not of everything.

"To clarify" she blurted "I didn't mean I was guilty of killing Jason. I loved him more than I do myself but I am guilty of lying about what happened that morning on July fourth"

Sheriff Keller sighed "The autopsy puts his death on about July 11th. When was the last time you saw your brother?"

"It was July 4th. I...I don't know what happened the week after that—"

"Cheryl in your own words, what happened at Sweetwater River?"

Cheryl took a deep breath, then began her story "The plan was banana's even for me. Jason wanted to leave Riverdale and never come back. He asked for my help to stage a tragic accident so our mom and dad wouldn't come after him. Our story would be that we went on an early morning boat ride and the boat tipped, capsized and Jason drowned but in fact we made it to the other side dry as bones. We said goodbye on the Greendale side of Sweetwater River but he promised he'd call me as soon as he was in a place where he couldn't be reached or pulled back by our parents. One month at the most. Every day I waited for a call or an email but I got nothing"

Sheriff Keller was looking at her more intently now "You tell anyone about the plan? Anyway, that you can corroborate it?"

Cheryl shook her head.

"So, you have no idea why your brother wanted to run away and fake his own death?"

Cheryl shook her head again, bowing her head in light of how little she had known before agreeing to help Jason. She couldn't have known that he was going to land in any trouble.

Sheriff Keller shook his own head in disbelief "Doesn't that seem cruel?"

Cheryl looked up at the Sheriff, she could feel fury burning in her eyes and cheeks.

"He wasn't cruel" she protested.

"Right he wasn't" Sheriff Keller mused "So maybe this is just a web of lies that your spinning to cover your tracks"

"I didn't kill Jason!" She yelled. In a panic she reached for the only information she had that could possibly exonerate her "There was a gunshot that morning. We heard a gunshot on July 4th maybe someone took a shot at him and missed the first time"

Sheriff Keller stood in anger "You heard a gunshot that morning and you're just telling us this now?"

"I was upset my brother was murdered" It wasn't her best excuse but then she wasn't used to this kind of interrogation.

"So, upset that you sang and danced at the pep rally on Friday" Sheriff Keller's voice was finding higher levels of disbelief every time he spoke.

Suddenly the door to the principal's office burst open and her Father and Mother marched into the room.

"What the hell is going on here" Her father asked Sheriff Keller in a dangerous voice.

Keller and Weatherbee immediately backed off.

"Mummy" Cheryl said desperately.

Her mother came over, grabbed her arms and whispered in her ears.

"Don't say another word Cheryl. Get up. Why didn't you call us?"

Her mother frogmarched her out of the office and out into the corridor.

"Because she's a liar Penelope" Her father whispered "And she's going to tell us everything she knows as soon as we're back at Thornhill"

Together they walked her right out of the school past all of her class mates, who she knew, would be spreading rumours like wildfire by the time the bell rang for lunch.

*Betty's POV*

Her mother dropped a newspaper in front of her. The headline read: Cheryl Blossom guilty as sin

Betty had just come back from her 'shift' watching John at the hospital where he'd explained everything to her. She'd heard enough about monsters for today, she wasn't prepared to deal with her live-in one.

"Hot off the presses" her mother said with a sickly smile.

"First, you leaked Jason Blossom's autopsy report, illegally by the way since John told me how you did it, and now this?"

"People are loving the coverage" her mother said bluntly.

"You have to stop sensationalising this horrible thing" she demanded.

Her mother sighed "It's news Betty. We own the Riverdale Register and we have a responsibility to keep the people informed"

Betty shook her head "Whatever Jason did to Polly, he's still a PERSON. You should be writing the real story. I mean what actually happened to Jason? Who was holding him capture? Why was he frozen? And who shot that gun on July 4th?"

Her mother smiled "If you're so keen on reporting, why don't you come and work for your father and me? The Register could really use a Lois Lane type like you"

Just like that an idea wormed its way into her head as her mother left her room. Maybe reporting wasn't such a bad idea but if her mom was going to do the devils work at the Register then it seemed only right that someone else took a less biased stand on this huge problem...

*Archie's POV*

Archie had watched as Cheryl had been taken from the building by her parents and he'd heard the rumours, that everyone thought that Cheryl had killed her brother since her only defence was a gunshot no one else had heard. After hearing all that he'd pretty much made his mind up about telling Weatherbee that he'd heard the gunshot also but then he'd made the mistake of walking past Miss Grundy's room.

She was just sat in there playing the piano and all Archie could think about was the pain he'd feel if he lost her over this. Was it worth it? Of course, it was, to save Cheryl from being damned as her brother's killer. She didn't deserve what was happening to her despite what she was like at school. If he sat on this information it would eat him up inside for the rest of his life. Geraldine may have been able to do that but he wasn't. He took one last look at her before turning away and walking into the principal's office down the hall.

When he entered, he was surprised to find both Sheriff Keller and Principal Weatherbee inside in deep discussion. They both turned to look at him and for a moment he almost lost his nerve.

"I..I'm here to give up some information Sheriff" he mumbled.

Sheriff Keller simply indicated to a chair in front of the desk that he was sat on, he looked at Principal Weatherbee to see him give a short smile and a nod of reassurance.

Archie sat in the chair and confessed.

"I think I know something that can help with the Blossom Investigation. People are saying that Cheryl heard a gunshot, right?"

"That's what she's claiming yeah" Sheriff Keller said in an exasperated tone.

"Well I heard it too. I was there that morning and I didn't say anything because at first, like everyone, I thought Jason had drowned but when the autopsy came out and said that he died later—"

"What were you doing down at the river so early on July 4th?" The Sheriff leaned forwards.

Archie panicked, trying desperately to find an excuse that didn't implicate Miss Grundy.

"I was...working on some songs. That's what I do, I write songs" he said trying his best to sound ashamed, as if he'd let a big secret go.

The sheriff seemed to relax a bit "You see who fired the shot?"

"No, sir"

"Were you alone" Once again Archie froze as he remembered lying next to Geraldine on the shore of Sweetwater river, their hands entwinned.

"No" he breathed involuntarily.

"Who were you with"

Archie's brain went into overdrive, trying desperately to think of someone that could have been there with him that would cover for him, then it hit him. There had been someone else there on that day, someone who couldn't answer any questions.

"My dog Vegas, he was keeping watch for me"

Sheriff Keller sighed and leaned back, Archie understood the feeling. This whole scenario was insane.

*Kevin's POV*

"So, are you a suspect now?" Veronica asked Archie.

Kevin snorted "My dad says we all are, including me"

Veronica shook her head "Not me girl, I don't know these people"

Kevin smiled and chewed on a red vine, trying to remember what the group had been like before Veronica had arrived. They were all sat in the student lounge together discussing Archie's confession to Sheriff Keller.

"Guys" he said "should we maybe rebinge making a murderer on Netflix tonight?"

Betty laughed "Sorry I can't, my latest great idea means that I have to stay late working on the school paper"

"Count me out too, I've got a date tonight" Veronica announced.

Kevin's brain exploded trying to guess who it was. What if it was Archie? Oh, this could be interesting and also terrible.

"You do?" Archie asked in confusion.

Okay maybe not Archie then, Kevin thought.

"Which Riverdale hottie made the cut" he asked desperately.

Veronica simply inclined her head and gestured behind Kevin.

"Hey V-low" A deep voice from behind Kevin said "I'll swing by the Pembrooke to pick you up about 8?"

Every cell in Kevin's brain buzzed as he turned around to see the captain of the football team smiling them. Veronica and Chuck Clayton? That was a pairing for a celebrity magazine.

"I'll be waiting" Veronica said to Chuck as he and his goons left the lounge.

"Chuck Clayton?" he and Betty exclaimed at the same time.

"He's kind of a player" Betty began.

"Oh, who cares he's the hottest of the hot" Kevin said, cutting her off "and he's the varsity football coaches' son, in Riverdale that's like dating a Kennedy"

Veronica just raised her eyebrows in response.

"So" Archie piped up, sounding desperate to change the subject "There's a gap in the rota for watching John tonight, is no one available"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Sorry Archie, but it's been a few days. He's probably alright for now" Betty said calmly.

"How's he doing anyway?" Kevin asked "I've not done my shift yet"

"I was there last night and he's getting better, I've gotta go switch for Jughead in a little while though so I'll have to shoot"

"What a life" Kevin whispered to Veronica as Archie got up and left.

*Jughead's POV*

"If print journalism is dead, what am I doing here?" Jughead announced as he walked into the offices of the Blue and Gold where he'd been summoned.

"The Blue and Gold isn't dead Juggy, it's just dormant" Betty replied enthusiastically "But it's waking up, John told me that your working on a novel right? About Jason's murder"

"I am, Riverdale's very own In Cold Blood" he said as he held a magnifying glass from the table up to Betty's face.

"Which started out as a series of articles" Betty smiled at him, a smile that he hadn't seen in a long time "I'm hoping you'll come and write for the Blue and Gold"

He wanted to, more than anything. But as usual he felt that part of himself draw away from everything and everyone.

"I just don't think the school paper is the right fit for my voice"

It was a lame excuse, he knew that. Just say yes you cock, he thought.

"Juggy, Jason's death changed Riverdale. People don't wanna admit that but it's true, we all feel it. Nothing this bad was ever supposed to happen here, but it did. I wanna know why"

Jughead smiled inwardly, there was the Betty Cooper that he'd known before she'd gone pinning off after Archie. The Betty Cooper that he'd grown to love way back when. How could he possibly refuse this opportunity to work with one of his closest friends again and the content was right up his alley. He could do this and he could do it well.

"Would I get complete freedom?" he asked innocently.

"I'll help and edit and suggest but it's your story Jug"

Jughead narrowed his eyebrows jokingly "Doesn't sound like complete freedom but...I'm in"

Betty's smile was all the affirmation he needed.

"Okay great, in that case I have your first assignment. There's a couple of factors that no one's really talking about in regards to July 4th"

Jughead nodded "Greendale and Dilton Doiley's adventure scouts"

"Exactly" Betty replied.

Jughead nodded and gestured with the magnifying glass to signal that he was on it before turning around and beginning his investigation.

*Archie's POV*

"Hey Dad, can't stop, I'm going down the Hospital to see John" Archie said as he entered his house to see his Dad waiting on the stairs.

"I texted you, where were you? His dad asked, lowly.

"Football practice. Then I was writing" Archie replied, dropping his guitar and picking a more casual coat off the rack.

"Songs? Your music? I thought you and Jughead were on a road trip on the 4th? Then I talked to Sheriff Keller. So, I guess that was a lie"

Archie froze for a minute, crap! "Dad we were gonna go but—"

"You should have come to me Archie, we could have gone to the sheriff together!"

"I didn't want to drag you into it"

"That was an error in judgement"

Archie shook his head "Sorry dad, sorry I'm not perfect"

"You're pretty far from perfect lately, that's why you're grounded. You go to school and come straight home. You wanna see your brother? I'll drive you"

"What? Are you serious?"

"For two weeks, you want some alone time with your music? You got it"

"I'm not ten years old dad you can't just ground me"

"You wanna go for three?"

Archie sighed and relinquished "Can we go see John?"

His dad looked at him curiously before responding "Of course, I'll go get my coat"

*Jughead's POV*

Jughead had gotten the call early that morning. Archie had told him how his dad had been riding him since he told Keller and as a result, he wasn't going to be able to see John as often. Jughead had agreed to see him this morning, he had some questions for John anyways. Questions that might help with Betty's investigation.

"Hey Jug, wasn't expecting to see you this morning?" John exclaimed as Jughead walked into his hospital room.

"Me neither John, how are you?" Jughead couldn't help but smile, the kid had been shot and he was still happy as Larry.

"I'm good Jug thanks, Doctors said I'm making miraculous progress, whatever that means. Did Archie send you? I've told him it's not me who needs watching"

"Well he did send me but I was going to come anyway, I assume you've heard about the developments in Jason Blossom's case?"

"Nasty stuff, I feel sorry for Cheryl. She has to be taking it hard"

"Yeah well me and Betty have decided that there's two things that need further investigation. One of them is Greendale, now I know the Ghoulies used to have a stronghold in Greendale back when they were the Deadfalls cos my Dad told me and you know who my dad is do don't try to deny it. Now, do you still have any contacts in Greendale?"

John smiled "Wow you've done your research! Lucky for you I still have more than a few friends in the gang, meaning that I'm still a full member, giving me full access to their contacts list"

Jughead wrinkled his nose "You actually have one of those? Aren't you supposed to be a big scary gang?"

"No, we used to be a big scary gang, now we're a small gathering with a large list of contacts and allies and I think I have the exact right one for you, if you want to investigate deaths in Greendale that is?"

Jughead nodded "That sounds brilliant, can I have the details?"

John laughed "Hand me my phone Jug, this is a call I need to make. They don't just answer to anyone"

Jughead handed him his phone and John scrolled for a short while before tapping on a number and letting the phone ring.

"Hello is that Spellman Mortuary?" John asked a little too enthusiastically "Oh, can I speak to Hilda please, I'm calling in my favour"

John smiled mischievously to Jug and it seemed to him as if this was a number, he'd wanted to dial for a long time...


	9. Chapter 3 Part 2

*Geraldine's POV*

"Why did you tell them about the gunshot" Geraldine asked Archie, her voice ragged from the sleepless nights she'd been having.

"They were gonna crucify Cheryl" Archie insisted "I had to help her"

I had to help her. The words rang in her skull, if he was so set on helping people how come he'd never thought about helping her. How come he never did anything she asked. She'd allowed herself to be vulnerable around a boy whose moral compass was going to destroy them both. Geraldine had experienced her fair share of bad men, but none of them had ever gotten her in trouble like this.

"You were in the clear, WE were in the clear Archie! Fucking Cheryl was in the clear too, we didn't have to say anything she's the richest kid in Riverdale"

"I Left your name out of it so it's not a big deal, I'm the one taking the heat. Just like I said" he sounded tired of explaining this too her, it was a shame then that she still couldn't believe it.

"Archie you are caught up in a murder investigation. Do you know what that means? Are you even aware of how brightly the spotlight is on you now? What if Sheriff Keller decides to keep digging and it somehow leads to us, to our relationship?"

"Then I'll stick to my story" Archie reassured, reaching out and holding her hands "I'll protect you"

She stared into his eyes and knew he was telling the truth, but he couldn't protect her now. If she was going to get through this then she was going to have to batten down the hatches, like she should have done in the first place instead of indulging further in this dangerous situation.

She pulled away from him, tears pricking at her eyes "I'm suspending our lessons" She said bluntly before turning and walking out of the room.

*Betty's POV*

Betty was stood next to Veronica waiting for her to finish up at her locker when Kevin crashed onto the scene.

"SO? How'd it go with Chuck?" he asked desperately.

Veronica sighed "Well we went to Pop's and got some food and took some truly cringy selfies but honestly? Chuck has muscles for days but his conversation is not the stuff of Oscar Wilde or even Diablo Cody"

Despite what she'd heard about Chuck she kind of felt sorry for him, from what Veronica had told her it seemed as though she'd led him on a bit. Equally though she also understood where Veronica was coming from. When you know, you know.

Betty looked away for a moment to see, curiously, one of Riverdale high's 'Rich kids of instagram' staring right at them and smiling.

"Hey Veronica" She cooed in a voice that was sickly sweet "How was the sticky maple you had last night?"

"The what now?" Veronica replied.

"The sticky maple Chuck gave you?" She held up a photo on her phone as she began to walk away "How was it?"

It was only then that Betty noticed all the other kids walking past that were looking at them with disgust. No, not them, Veronica.

Kevin's phone went crazy and he pulled it out to look at it only for his eyebrows to raise so high that Betty thought they might float off of his face.

"Oh my god" he exclaimed.

"What?" Veronica demanded, swiping the phone from his grasp

Betty got a glimpse of what was on the phone. It was a picture of Veronica and Chuck. They both looked fairly happy except someone had badly photoshopped some maple syrup onto Veronicas face. The post, she noticed, wasn't even by Chuck or Veronica but rather by Una Murray, some girl on the cheerleading squad. This thing was going viral.

"What the hell is a sticky maple?" Veronica asked, her voice shaky with rage.

"It's kind what it sounds like" Kevin explained solemnly "It's a Riverdale thing"

"No Kevin, it's a slut shaming thing and I am neither a slut nor am I going to be shamed by someone called, excuse me, Chuck Clayton. Does he really think he can get away with this? Does he not know who I am!? I will cut the brakes off his souped up phallic symbol"

Betty had never seen Veronica like this. She was vengeful and scary, someone who wasn't scared of running lives in order to save her own. In a weird way it was kind of inspiring to see a woman talk with such authority but it was also scary to think how many poor unknowing saps had done the same thing in New York only to face the fury of criminal king-pin Hiram Lodge.

"We could go to Principal Weatherbee?" Betty offered.

"About the coach's son?" She asked incredulously "Who's captain of the football team and Riverdale Highs golden boy?"

"Okay well I could expose him in the pages of the Blue and Gold for our first big story! It would hit him harder than he's ever been hit before" Betty said with determination.

"No" Veronica snapped "Spoken like a true good girl who always follows the rules. I don't follow rules, I make them and where necessary I break them"

With that she shoved the phone back into Kevin's hands so hard that she slammed Kevin back against the lockers, with that she stormed off as Betty tried hard to keep pace with her.

"You wanna help me get revenge on Chuck, Betty? Awesome but you've gotta be prepared to go full dark, no stars. What do you say in or out?"

Betty chose not to reply, opting to instead follow Veronica to make sure she didn't do anything stupid. As it turned out, Betty rather failed in that role and before she knew it Betty was following Veronica as she burst into the boy's locker room.

Betty tried desperately to keep her eyes forward and follow the gap's left in Veronica's wake as she pushed past boy's with towels round their waists. Eventually Veronica's steaming pace meant that she ran into someone and coincidentally that person was Archie, who almost dropped his towel.

"Veronica" He exclaimed in shock as he tried to gather the towel more securely around his waist "Betty? What are you guys doing here?"

"Don't worry about it" Veronica replied bluntly, making a move to push past Archie until he moved to block her path.

"No, I can't let you go in there" he said, his voice wavering.

"I mean it, Andrews. Hit the showers and stay out of my way" Veronica yelled as she pushed him aside and strode further into the locker room.

Finally, they found Chuck. He was stood, facing a semi-circle of his friends. They were all laughing about something, Betty had a good idea of what.

Veronica coughed loudly, making Chuck turn around.

"Oh, B and V. Ménage a right on, ladies"

Betty hunched her shoulders, could anyone actually be that cringey?

Veronica pulled out her phone and brought up the picture "This, is disgusting. Take it down!"

Chuck held his hands up in mock surrender "Woah, woah. Why are you so wound up? It's a badge of honour and you're not exactly virgin territory after your closet date with Andrews"

Anger rose in Betty's chest "Okay, that's irrelevant, Chuck. You're not allowed to go around humiliating girls for no reason... jerk" It wasn't a great insult, but it was the most she'd ever said to a boy in that way.

Chuck smiled and inclined his head at her insult "Hey I get that you're not a closet girl but if you wanna ride the Chuck wagon that can be arranged"

Betty wrinkled her nose in disgust as all his friends began to chuckle into their hands.

"Let's keep this simple so that your preppy murderer half brain can grasp it" Veronica intervened, getting right up in Chucks face "Take. This. The hell. Down."

For a moment Betty thought that maybe she'd gotten through to him but then he smiled and bent over so that his face was level with Veronica's.

"That high-toned bitch attitude may have worked on the beta's you dated in New York, but you're in Bulldog territory"

Some of Chucks friends began to woof loudly at Veronica, making her back off.

"But please" Chuck said with mock concern "Fight back, you'll only make it harder on yourself"

*Jughead's POV*

John had said that it would take time for his contacts in Greendale to gather information for them. In the meantime, Jughead had walked down to the Adventure Scout camp in order to follow up on the other loose end Betty had mentioned. Dilton was a strange guy and in another world, they may have been best friends but as soon as he'd gotten a position of power, he'd been insufferable. This was going to be a tough shakedown, Jughead thought as he wandered into the camp where Dilton was doing a demonstration.

"In that moment of hesitation, you're dead. All of you are dead" DIlton announced to his troop.

"At ease Doiley" he laughed as Dilton spun around "I'm writing an article for the Blue and Gold and I was hoping you'd be able to help me out"

Doiley stared at him for a moment as he tried to figure out Jughead's intentions.

"Dismissed, but stay close" Dilton commanded his troop.

Jughead waited until the Adventure Scouts had moved out of earshot before asking his questions.

"Cheryl and Archie say that they heard a gunshot on July 4th, but they don't know who fired"

"Sheriff Keller already asked me about this" Dilton countered "Like I told him, my scouts and I, we didn't hear anything weird"

Jughead smiled and stepped forward "So did you SEE anything weird?"

For a moment it looked as if he'd caught Dilton off guard but his usual cocky expression soon returned.

"A white-winged crossbill, a long-eared owl and oh Cheryl, soaking wet by the river's edge"

Jughead would have pressed him further but something else had taken his interest, or rather someone. One of Dilton's Scouts had given him a scared look, now he had a loose thread it was time to go and pull it.

*Archie's POV*

Archie's head was swimming with the History facts he was trying to memorise, when he heard someone whisper his name from behind him.

"Psst Archie"

He turned around to see Cheryl Blossom, smiling.

"Thanks to you Archie, I'm not the girl that cried gunshot. You believed me when not even my parents did"

Archie shook his head, confused "I just told the truth"

"Which is why I want to repay your kindness" she beamed.

"Cheryl that's not why I came forward" he chuckled

She laughed with him "save the 'aw shucks' for Betty. I'm granting you one wish Archie, nothing is off the table. Except for my body. Jason would want you to be rewarded"

He was about to decline when an idea formed in his head, a way to comply with his dad and keep his promises.

"Actually, Cheryl there is one thing"

*Josie's POV*

Josie walked into the room where Archie was tuning his guitar, her mother had forbidden her to go anywhere near Archie but despite what her mother believed, she did owe thanks to the guy who saved her life.

She cleared her throat and Archie looked up.

"Uh hey Josie" he said awkwardly.

"My Mom says that I shouldn't even speak to you right now, she believes that if you hadn't gone after that guy and provoked him then he would have gone straight to her room instead of mine, where she had two deputies guarding the door. While she's probably right, you didn't have to chase after him to save my mom, or me as it turned out. So, I've thought about what you asked me before and I've reconsidered slightly"

"What do you mean?" Archie's face was confused but also a little guilty.

"The Pussycats are playing at my moms' event, the Taste of Riverdale? We are rehearsing every night this week. Come, observe, learn but no song writing, you're not that much of a hero Archie Andrews"

With that she turned to walk away, until Archie interrupted.

"This week I'm uh...I'm grounded" Archie said awkwardly.

Was this guy for real?

"Make It work Andrews, in the words of Eminem 'You've only got one shot'"

She heard Archie laugh as she exited the room and walked away.

*Veronica's POV*

If there was one thing that Veronica could be thankful for at the moment, it was Betty. She was being a true friend throughout all of this, even if her suggestions hadn't all been effective or useable. She'd also just managed to drag her away from an awkward conversation with her mom. As much as she wanted to tell her what was going on, she couldn't, Veronica knew that she'd just try to get involved or worse contact her father to resolve the matter. No this was something that she had to do herself.

So, lets hope that Betty's got something good, she thought to herself as she walked into the room Betty had told her to come to.

Betty was sat with a whole group of other girls, they looked as though they were sharing stories.

"This story's bigger than we thought" Betty said to Veronica as she walked in "I asked around to see if what happened to you, happened to anyone else and if anyone would go on record about it"

"I will one hundred percent" said the girl sat next to Betty, she was quite short and had curly ginger hair that stopped at her jawline.

Betty smiled and nodded at the girl before looking back at Veronica "It's five guys on the football team, Chuck and his posse. Ethel was just about to tell us"

Betty gestured at the curly haired girl.

"One day last year Chuck and I talked in the Library for ten minutes" Ethel began "I helped him with a pre-calc problem and nothing happened but the next day he started telling people that I let him do things to me... like sex stuff. Then he or one of his goons wrote 'sloppy seconds' on my locker"

Veronica bowed her head, things couldn't get much worse.

"Yes, yes. We've all heard your tragic origins story" said a familiar voice from behind her.

Oh, how wrong you are, Veronica thought to her self as she turned to see Cheryl Blossom standing in the doorway.

"I'm so sorry Ethel, that's horrible" She heard Betty whisper to Ethel from behind her.

"Not as horrible as being a suspect in your own brother's murder case, but we all have our crosses" Cheryl said impatiently "In the meantime, River Vixen practice starts in five minutes, sluts"

"They're ruining our lives and to them it's just a game" Ethel sobbed "They even keep score"

Veronica spun back around "Wait, what did you say?"

"Each conquest earns them points, they keep track in some secret playbook" Ethel explained.

Veronica exhaled in disgust.

"Okay we have to go to Weatherbee about this" Betty complained.

Ethel shrugged "I already tried, Weatherbee said that he didn't find anything"

"Okay, then we need undeniable proof" Betty said, mainly to Veronica.

"Proof of what Nancy Drew" Cheryl laughed "That boy's will be boys? Plus, that playbook reeks of suburban legend"

"How would you know, Cheryl" Veronica retorted.

"Because, Freida Shallow, before he died Jason was co-captain of the football team with Chuck. Jason never mentioned it and he never would've allowed it"

Veronica clenched her fists, she could just punch this girl now and wipe that entitled look off of her face. Cheryl was not just going to bury this because she believed her brother was the son of god.

"Okay well I never met your brother but I'm not lying about what happened to me and Ethel's not lying. Proof or no proof, book or no book. I am going scorched earth on these privileged, despicable miscreants. You wanna get caught in that back-draft Cheryl? Then call me or any of these beautiful, young, strong, intelligent women sluts, one more time" Veronica got right into Cheryl's face so that the gravity of her threat would get through her thick ego.

Cheryl's face remained expressionless but Veronica didn't care, it was time to go to war.

*Jughead's POV*

It had been tough tracking him down but finally Jughead had located his loose thread. His dad had driven him to Pop's where he worked and while he was in the back getting his uniform on, Jughead was going to strike. He walked right over to the scouts table and plucked the cherry off the top of his sundae.

"What the hell man" the scout said, putting his hands up.

"I saw the way you looked at me while I was shaking down Dilton. You're hiding something"

Jughead grabbed a spoonful of his sundae as the scout leaned forwards.

"It's scout master it's scoutmaster Doiley. He's lying"

"About what" Jughead pressed.

"The Gunshot. It was him, he was teaching us how to shoot targets"

Jughead leaned forward, this mystery just got more and more interesting "Dilton Doiley shot the gun on July 4th?"

"He's a hardcore survivalist, he says if we don't protect ourselves then no one will"

Jughead shook his head, so Dilton was a suspect and maybe he knows more than he was letting on...

*John's POV*

"Up, sleeping goblin"

John's eyes shot open and he leaned forwards fast, too fast. Shooting pains ran up and down his stomach and he cried out in pain.

His vision hazed for a moment but soon went back to normal except it couldn't have, because Cheryl Blossom was stood in front of him.

"Good god, watch yourself Andrews, I promised your brother I'd protect you for the night and that's going to be hard to do if you kill yourself" Cheryl said, looking him up and down with an unimpressed look before sitting down on the chair next to his bed.

"What?" John asked through gritted teeth "What did he tell you?"

"That he's worried about you and that he wants me to be here when he can't"

"Yeah but...why you?"

"You're welcome" Cheryl scoffed "I granted him one wish, that was what he requested"

"A wish?" John asked as he adjusted the hospital bed into a sitting position.

"yes, for corroborating my story about hearing a gunshot on July 4th"

Of course Archie was right in the middle of this, right when he was most unable to help. Would the kid ever learn?

"Archie told me that Keller has been trying to pin Jason's murder on you, I'm sorry Cheryl you don't deserve that"

"Thanks" She said in a small voice.

"Sooo, what do you want to do for the next couple of hours"

She turned and frowned at him "Nothing, the silence rule still applies Andrews, I'm here that doesn't mean that I like it!"

John put his hands up in mock surrender "Why, what did I do?"

"You humiliated me in front of the whole school, you betrayed my trust"

John laughed "What? I asked you out in a room of about three people Cheryl"

"Word travels, you ruined my reputation"

"Well I'm sorry, it must mean a lot to you"

Cheryl turned her head away from him "Doesn't matter now anyway, my reputations gone after everything that went on with Jason" John was surprised to hear sobs escape her "I'm guilty"

"Hey, you aren't guilty" John reached out to put and hand on her shoulder but she turned and batted it away, her eyes were streaming with tears.

"What would you know about it you human sandbag"

John, with much pain and difficulty swung his legs off the bed and sat eye to eye with her " Because I know all about guilty, you want to know why I'm really here ? Some guy came to my dad's building site one day, said he wanted money for protection of my father's land. Obviously, I refused him. The next day one of the workers died in a 'work related accident'. I knew exactly what had happened, I went to speak to this guy, to tell him to stop but he told me that since I didn't have any money, he'd take me as payment. I had to work for him otherwise he'd kill my father, my brother and everyone I care about. I complied and he made me do some bad things...some horrible things..."

Cheryl looked at him and put a hand on his shoulder "John?"

"He was going to make me kill the mayor Cheryl. I was going to kill Mayor McCoy in cold blood, If Archie hadn't stopped me..."

"John you were being threatened, your family was in danger. If I had to kill someone to save Jason, I would do it in a heartbeat"

John laughed "Would you? Everyone see's this viper when they look at you Cheryl but do you want to know why I asked you out, why I took a gamble with our friendship? Because I've always been able to see past that bad girl attitude to the girl underneath, a girl who wouldn't hurt anyone ever, someone who's brave and true"

John reached out and held her hands "You wouldn't have done it. That's how I know for certain that you didn't kill Jason and how I know, you're not guilty"

Cheryl started to tear up again and John pulled her into a hug...

*Archie's POV*

Sneaking out the house had been easy and knowing that Cheryl was watching John tonight was comforting. They'd been good friends once, not that everyone knew, he knew she'd keep him safe. That meant he could sit here with the Pussycats and really get into what he loved. Music.

Valerie was giving him the introductions.

"Melody's our technique queen" She said gesturing to the girl behind the keyboard, wearing pussy cat ears.

"And you're the songwriter?" Archie asked.

Valerie nodded.

"I would love to—"

The door slammed open and Josie walked in.

"Love to what" she asked with a smile "That's the real question, why you think watching us pro's is going to help you? What do you want to get out of this experience"?

"Short version? I just wanna hear you guys playing my songs, making them better, recording them"

"So, you think your qualified to write songs for the Pussycats?"

Archie figured showing strength with Josie was the best way forward.

"yeah" he said simply

"For Divas of Colour?"

"No...well maybe" Archie admitted.

"Look Archie this isn't LA or New York. This is Riverdale and people's minds are opening up but do you have any idea of the hate mail and death threats my mom got when she was elected mayor?"

"I campaigned for your mom. I get it"

"No. No, no baby you don't. I mean do you know why we're called the Pussycats? Because we have to claw our way into rooms that you can just waltz into"

"Josie" Valerie warned.

"it's okay Valerie. She's right"

Josie looked at Archie and smiled "Good"

Archie had passed the first test, in his mind. Now all he wanted was to learn.

"Right now. Valerie" Josie said holding up a lyrics sheet "you are such a poet, but these lyrics? They don't make any sense! What's the hook? I need a line that catches"

"I've been struggling" Valerie admitted.

"What about 'paintings in the wind'" Melody offered.

"How about 'Paintings on her skin'" Archie interjected.

"Hmm, I kinda dig that" Valerie said with a smile

Josie sighed "All right, let's take it from the top"

Josie clicked them in, then the Pussycats began to sing:

Oh, Oh,

Paintings on her skin

Colours in her hair

Come around the corner make you stop and stare

She don't pay no mind cos she don't really care

What you think about her, think about...

Ohhh oh ohhh oh

I don't care what you want me to be

Cos It aint for you no its all for me yeah

Archie sat back and laughed, it was simply brilliant.

"That was so good"

Josie smiled at him "what else you got?"

*Betty's POV*

"I had to quit when I saw that horrible playbook and I may know where it is"

Trev Browns words swam around in her head. After Ethel had brought him in earlier to reveal the location of the playbook his testimony had been all she could think about. How many names were in this book if someone had decided to quit over it.

Well they were soon going to find out, under Trev's advice her, Veronica, Ethel and Kevin had snuck into school after hours to look for the book. Trent had said it would be near Chucks locker which when she thought about it was pretty smart. No teacher was going to search his locker, not when he meant so much to the school. You don't poke a bear if it's sleeping.

"Footballer's behaving badly? What else is new" Veronica said as they walked through the school with their flashlights on "But the coach's son being the ringleader, just how depraved is this town"

"Colour me impressed" said a voice from behind them that made them all jump.

"A B and E with B and V" Cheryl said through a half smile "what would your Holy Roller mother say about this Betty?"

"What are you doing here Cheryl" Betty asked, still gasping from the shock.

"And where did you get those thigh-high boots, they're amazing!" Kevin added, much to her and Veronica's dismay.

"Trev told Valerie who told Josie, who told Ginger, who told Tina, who told me and I thought I would help out"

Betty laughed incredulously "Help? Or derail our investigation"

Cheryl shone her torch in Betty's face, blinding her "get over yourself Betty"

"Hey, guys. Get in here" Came Ethel's voice from down the corridor. She'd obviously snuck away while they'd all been arguing.

They followed her voice over to Chucks locker where Ethel was. She'd reached through a gap between his locker and the next, by the time they got close to her she'd pulled a large ring-bound notebook out of the slot.

"Trev was right" She said as she opened the book "They didn't even bother to hide it fully"

They all gathered round the open pages of the book. At the bottom was Veronica's name with a breakdown of the points she'd earned Chuck.

"New girl? Is that what I'm reduced to? Nine points?" Veronica's voice was shaky.

"better than big girl" Ethel said quietly "Seven point five points"

Betty only half heard Veronica and Ethel because she'd noticed something far worse on that exact page, just below Ethel's name.

"Polly's in this book" Betty gasped "Under Jason's name"

As soon as she'd said the words that dark fire had started burning in her again, giving her suggestions of what terrible crimes Jason had committed against Polly and providing ideas on how to get revenge. She looked over at Cheryl who was managing to keep a straight face. How could she do that when it was here in blunt form. Evidence that her brother was the bad guy!

Betty turned away from the book, trying desperately to banish the darkness in her.

"I'm so sorry Betty" Veronica said but her voice became mere echoes in Betty's mind.

"This isn't right" Cheryl muttered "Jason would never"

"IT'S RIGHT THERE CHERYL!" Betty yelled, letting some of the rage inside her out "God, your brother hurt my sister. This is what guys like Jason and Chuck think of women, we're just objects for them to abuse. Then when there done with us, they shame us into silence. They have zero remorse for the lives they destroy!"

Cheryl bowed her head "Maybe I don't know Jason" she said as she backed away from the book.

Veronica took her phone out "we'll take a picture and show it to Weatherbee, it'll be the perfect cover for your expose Betty"

Betty sighed angrily "No, but these girls deserve justice. Don't you think Cheryl?"

When Cheryl didn't answer Betty approached Veronica

"you want vengeance? You wanna go full dark, no stars? Then I'm with you V, and I have a plan"


	10. Chapter 3 Part 3

*Betty's POV*

As Betty walked into Pop's she tried to banish all of her doubts and worries. The lipstick, the clothes, the confidence. They were all the things that she'd need to seduce Chuck, and she'd need to do it fast since she was now on the clock with her mother as well.

They'd had a fight earlier when she'd caught Betty putting on Polly's red lipstick.

Polly grew up too fast, I don't want that happening to you. Here, pink perfection, that's more you

The words had been making her angry all the way here, she wasn't perfect and if she had to do this to prove that to everyone, then so be it.

She spotted Chuck, sitting on his own in a booth to the left of her. She swallowed all her emotions and focused on making every aspect of herself as confident and as seductive as possible.

"Hey Chuck. Can I sit?" she asked as she approached him.

Chuck looked at her, confused "Not if you want to talk about Veronica" He asked cautiously.

Chuck went back to his meal so Betty sat down in his booth, to make sure she really had his attention.

"Only insofar as...I've been thinking lately, about how I want to be more like her"

Chuck frowned at her "You want to be a bad girl?"

"Maybe"

"Like your sister Polly was" Chucks smile was evil.

Betty had to fight the urge to freak out. Chuck knew something about what Jason did to Polly, now she had two reasons to make this plan work. So as to not betray the war raging inside her, Betty simply frowned in confusion.

"Oh yeah, Jason told us all about Polly. You know prissy prude by day but freak in the sheets by night, I mean bad girls have more fun right?"

For a moment Betty couldn't find the words to reply to Chuck. It was all too much, too much for poor perfect Betty. So maybe it was time for her to give over to her dark alter ego, maybe she could get the job done. She felt herself slipping away and then like magic, she was filled with confidence again. A cold calculating confidence that was working for a double dose of vengeance.

"Yeah" She said with a bright smile before leaning over the table towards Chuck "Maybe you can show me?"

Chuck swallowed hard "Yes I...I can do that. Um when?"

"Tomorrow night"

"Your place or mine"

"Ethels"

Chucks face formed into a quizzical look. He wasn't stupid then, he could sniff out a trap but not if she laid it on thick.

"Her parents will be out, she'll leave us a key. We're friends and besides, she has a pool and a hot tub"

Betty said the last words in a sultry voice and internally celebrated when Chuck broke out into a smile. The guy was just so full of himself that he was willing to believe anything.

"I'll be there. Definitely"

"Can't wait" She whispered before getting up and leaving.

Phase one of her plan was a success, now she'd have to play a big gamble and hope that everything worked out in her favour. The odds weren't great and the consequences would be even worse but for the first time in her life Betty Cooper felt in control, powerful and that's exactly how she liked it.

*John's POV*

John held Cheryl for a long time before she stopped sobbing but for him, time wasn't an issue. He was exactly where he wanted to be. When Cheryl eventually pulled herself back together, she sat on the hospital bed next to him and vented everything that had been bothering her for the last few weeks. Her brother's runaway scheme, his death, the crumbling relationship between her and her parents and, worst of all to John, the complete absence of any real friends.

"I just feel like I'm all alone. I'm fighting the world and no ones stood beside me, John" She sniffled.

"I'm so sorry Cheryl"

Cheryl chuckled "The worst thing though, is that I did it to myself"

John sighed "Cheryl you couldn't have know that he was going to—"

"I'm not talking about Jason" She interrupted "I'm talking about you. I surround myself with witches and jesters but you? You were the only real friend I had and I pushed you away. You need to know I regret it deeply John, there was--"

"Cheryl" He interrupted, putting a hand on hers "You couldn't turn me away at gun point, I promise"

She turned to look him in the eye but backed out and looked down "No but John you need to know that..."

He lifted her chin, so he could look at her "What?"

Their faces began to inch closer together as Cheryl swallowed and gathered to whisper.

"There was always a part of me that wanted to say yes"

John smiled at her, their lips were almost touching, he'd never been happier. The world was bright and happy and yet that all changed in one sentence.

"Well, this is cosy" said an all too familiar voice

John saw Cheryl's eyes look behind him and gasp. When John turned, he wasn't surprised, he'd never forget that voice.

Malachai was stood in the room with the door closed behind him, grasping a viciously sharp machete. His very presence seemed to suck all of the colour and joy he'd just felt right out of him.

John's very first thought was to save Cheryl but unfortunately, she wasn't about to make it easy for him.

"Who the hell do you think you are" She yelled.

Malachai chuckled "I'm just an old friend, here to finish the job"

Cheryl opened her mouth to speak again but John cut her off.

"Malachai, there's about a hundred potential witnesses in this building. It wouldn't be a smart move"

While he spoke to Malachai, he went about slowly and inconspicuously removing the drip in his arm. Meanwhile Cheryl had stood up and was inching over to the nurse's intercom. Quick as a flash, Malachai moved towards her and held the tip of the machete at her throat.

"Let's not draw any unwanted attention to ourselves ay beautiful? This is between me and your boyfriend"

"Fine by me" John yelled as he pushed off the bed and crashed into Malachai, sending him crashing to the floor with his machete.

If John was to ever describe the fight to anyone, he'd make it sound a lot more heroic. In reality, his efforts did very little against Malachai, who managed to throw his injured body off almost immediately, sending him sprawling onto the floor. He tried desperately to get up but Malachai was quicker and placed a hard kick in his stomach. Pain exploded inside of him and black spots began to blot out his vision. He reached down to his stomach with a hand and felt the sickeningly warm feeling of fresh blood. His wound must've opened, he thought as he scooted pathetically up against the wall.

John saw Malachai stand over him and raise his machete only to spin around as Cheryl charged him, screaming. John wanted to scream at her to run but it was too late, Malachai grabbed her arm, pulled her past him and launched her into the wall. She collapsed unconscious next to John and Malachai chuckled.

"I was expecting this to be a lot harder I'll admit but revenge is revenge"

"The boss won't be happy if you kill me, I'm his property" John gasped.

"That won't be problem mate, Boss's dead and now? Now it's my time to shine. Just imagine it John, a glorious drug empire, the one thing the Deadfall's never touched. After you robbed me of my family, money's the only thing that Riverdale could offer me and once I make my bones with you, I'll take leadership and burn this shithole to the ground"

John stared into Malachai's eyes for the first time since that fateful night at the Mayors house and was terrified at what he saw, there wasn't any of the confidence or the cockiness that John recognised there was only madness. The madness of a man with nothing left to lose.

All of a sudden, the door opened and his Dad walked in

"Hey son, caught Jughead in the lobby and I think he has some questions for—"

Malachai looked at John's father for a moment before smiling at John and bolting for the window, his father tried to catch him but Malachai was too fast. He was out of the window in an instant and as his Dad and Jughead rushed over to the window, John's vision began to blacken and all he could hear was Cheryl's voice, screaming his name.

*Archie's POV*

Honestly Archie had expected that getting out of the house would have been more difficult than getting back in. So, when he found himself creeping in through the back door, the last thing he expected to see was he Father standing by the lightswitch.

"Welcome home Ferris" he announced, his face dark with rage "Sneaking out, breaking curfew, getting into fights"

"Look Dad I can—"

"And now, your brother's been attacked by the mugger that you antagonised, you put yourself and others at risk and I really don't know what to do with you"

"Wait what? What mugger, I've been with the Pussycats helping them with the Taste of Riverdale event"

"The mugger you went crusading after without telling me or the police? The one that shot John and almost shot Josie? The one that came back today and attacked your brother and Cheryl" His father yelled.

"I've been trying to keep watch on John but you've tied me down here and for the record if I hadn't intervened then Josie would be dead!" Archie yelled back

"So now what? She's rewarding you by making you break curfew? Archie this is your punishment, you don't get to decide when it's in effect so you can forget about going anywhere for a very long time, including the Taste of Riverdale"

"That's such crap! This is the first time a song of mine is going to be performed on stage but you don't care about that. You've never been onboard with my music and you refuse to see my side of anything. I'm trying my best here but you? You're not trying at all"

"This is not about my behaviour, this is about your behaviour. We're done here, I need to get back to the hospital, you coming or what?"

"No" Archie said bluntly as he stormed upstairs to his room, he'd done enough for John.

*Veronica's POV*

Veronica flinched as she heard a knock at the pool house's door.

"Betty" she hissed as loudly as she dared "He's here come on, what's taking you so long"

When she got no reply, she cursed and stomped her foot. Looks like it was up to her to kick things off. She took a deep breath before walking over to the door and answering it to a confused Chuck.

"You're not Betty" he said narrowing his eyes.

"Betty and I talked it over, and we decided it's time to stop fighting over Archie and start learning to share" with that she stepped back slowly, allowing him to enter the pool house.

"Nice" Chuck remarked as he looked around.

"isn't it? It gets very, very hot" Veronica slipped her robe off of her shoulders to reveal the swimsuit she wore underneath before stepping into the hot tub "Come on, let's get wet"

Chuck laughed "Shouldn't we wait for Betty to get here first?"

The door behind Veronica opened and Veronica turned her head but what she saw wasn't Betty, at least not the Betty she knew. Some strange entity had stridden into the room, it looked just like Betty Cooper but it wore a black wig and black attire that Veronica had never seen Betty wear before. Her face was blank and expressionless but her gaze was fixed on Chuck.

"Betty couldn't make it, so she sent me instead" she said.

Veronica made a mental note to quiz her about this later but right now, it was clear Betty wasn't at the reigns.

Dark Betty looked at Veronica "Want to help me get our guest a drink while he gets undressed?" she prompted.

Veronica nodded and followed her over to the drinks table they'd set up, while Chuck pulled off his jumper and jeans before stepping into the hot tub.

Veronica watched as Betty began to pour Chuck a drink but instead of taking it over to him she pulled a small pill out of her bra, twisted it and emptied the contents into the glass.

"What is that" asked Veronica nervously.

"Muscle relaxer" Betty replied "Mix it with booze and it lowers your inhibitions. Hello, truth serum"

Veronica withdrew a little, she wasn't sure if she liked where this was going "Maybe we should slow it down a little"

Betty made a face "It's fine, right Chuck?" She said turning to face him "You don't wanna slow down, do you?"

"Oh, I'm too fast to furious baby" Chuck chuckled.

"Good, good boy Chuck" Betty said in a dangerous tone as Chuck drank deeply from the glass, she gave him...

*Fred's POV*

Fred wasn't stupid, he'd seen Jughead smuggle Archie into the Taste of Riverdale event. Of course, given John's confession earlier at the hospital, he supposed it didn't really matter. He didn't deserve to be punished for everything that happened, he'd been protecting his brother. John wasn't to blame either though, everything was just one huge mess and after this event was over, he'd have to try and put his little family back together again.

Fred had lived in Riverdale for a long time but when he walked into the even there was no one else he wanted to talk to other than Hermione. Even though he'd had to turn down her request for a job, he still cared about her. Those feelings didn't just go away.

"Well, well, well, Hermione Lodge" he said as he approached the stall she was running for Pop's.

"Fred Andrews"

"You look like you could use a drink" he offered her one but a customer came over to distract her.

"May I try a blue-cheese slider please" Geraldine Grundy asked Hermione.

"Oh, hey you must be the music teacher at the high school, right?" Fred had a great idea but it would mean Hermione would have to wait.

"yeah"

"Hi, I'm Fred Andrew's, Archie's dad. Can we talk?"

*Alice's POV*

Alice was on the hunt for some chaos, back in the day she'd thrived on it but since getting married, well petty drama has had to cut it for so far. However, the Taste of Riverdale meant that everyone was in one place, which was a rare occurrence in town. This meant she had her pick of interviewees for the Register and enough time to try and sway some parents away from allowing their children to fraternise with Betty, after all she was the last hope for the family after Polly's...unfortunate downfall.

After scanning the event for a while, she smiled as she saw her first target, Penelope Blossom and her wig wearing husband. She was talking with the mayor but that didn't excuse her from making a comment for tomorrow's front page.

"Penelope Blossom, I thought I might run into you" she said slyly as she approached the witch "Would you like to give me a quote regarding the investigation—"

Alice was cut off by Penelope, slapping her hard across the face. She smirked inwardly, it was just like old times.

"How dare you! Alice Cooper" Penelope yelled as Clifford held her back and Hal stepped in-between them "Printing my son's autopsy? He was tortured and shot and thrown in the river like a piece of garbage"

Penelope began to sob as Clifford dragged her away. Hal fussed over her but she pushed him away. She didn't need any sympathy, she'd gotten what she wanted.

Now for her next target, Hermione Lodge, Mob wife turned waitress. Time to hit Pop's taster stand.

"Hermione Lodge" she said with fake kindness and an even faker smile "Park avenue princess to cater waiter? How the times change"

Alice gulped down a sample of strawberry milkshake as Hermione smiled.

"Ah Alice Cooper, no longer lactose intolerant I see?"

"How's Veronica" She asked, fighting back an evil smile "Oh you don't even know do you? The things that they're saying about your daughter at school"

Hermione didn't look incredibly shocked at Alice's foul play, but then they had always been far too similar to surprise each other, even now they were older.

"What things"

"Slut-shaming, that's what they call it when sluts get shamed"

Finally, Alice got the reaction she wanted, now she was worried and if her own mother was worried then that meant all Alice's warnings to Betty were well founded.

"You know you really should watch a girl like Veronica, they so easily get out of control" Alice yelled after Hermione as she walked away to phone her daughter.

*Geraldine's POV*

The Pussycat's song had become a welcome distraction from the awkward conversation that she was having with Archie's father. It was so bizarre, he must know about her and Archie yet every time she thought he was going to accuse her, he just asked about menial things like how her job was going or whether she'd settled into Riverdale yet. Honestly, she kind of wished he'd just say what he needed to say since the anticipation was far worse.

"You know I've heard a lot about you. Archie says your great" Fred began.

Great here it comes, she thought. If she denied it right up until the last minute then he might lose his nerve and give up. No parent wants to believe that their kid's fucking a teacher, maybe he'd choose ignorance.

"That's very sweet" she replied cautiously.

"I need you to tell me the truth about something" he said, turning to look at her.

Fuck, here it comes.

"I know my son has passion for music. Does he have any talent?"

Wait, what?

Fred's face went red as he tried to explain himself, it was cute that he cared so much about how he painted his son, even when Archie wasn't around. This was a father who really cared and now instead of lying to him maybe she could put his mind at ease and do some good.

"I wanna be supportive but as a parent it's...difficult to watch your kid chase a dream, they may never catch when real life is passing them by"

She smiled "Mr Andrews. Archie? He has talent. Unquestionably. I won't lie he is coming to it late and there's a whole world of competition out there"

Fred nodded his head "Will he be able to make a living out of it?"

"It would be a shame if he didn't at least try"

Fred smiled "You know I've gotta ask you, what made you take such an interest in my son?"

Geraldine tried not to freeze up at the implications of the question, she had no reason to believe that he knew. In fact, whether he did or not may hang upon how she answered his question.

"Because...Archie's a special kid" she said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, like she was at parents evening trying the make the best out of a bad report.

As she was answering Fred's questions, Geraldine realised something. She realised how much she really did love Archie, right down to his righteous sense of justice. She'd pushed him away but if he ever came back well, it would be a shame if she didn't at least try...

*Jughead's POV*

Smuggling Archie out of his house was easily the easiest favour he'd ever been asked to do and now they were hiding on the viewing deck of the hall that the Taste of Riverdale event was being hosted in.

"Are you sure it was really worth sneaking out for some locally sourced Muenster?" he asked Archie, who was next to him and completely fixated on the Pussycat's performance.

"I helped write that song man" Archie replied "I had to see it on stage"

Jughead smiled "Not bad, I'd love to stay but I gotta shake down an evil Adventure Scout. See you"

Jughead left Archie to his song and snuck back out of the hall and into the stairwell where Dilton had agreed to meet him.

As Jughead approached him, it became clear that Dilton was in a state of unrest, probably because he already knew what Jughead was going to say.

"Hello Dilton" he called to him "I talked to one of your scouts, I know you fired the gun. Which makes you both a liar and a public menace"

Dilton straightened a little "So what if I did. I was doing the Adventure Scouts a favour. Somebody had to teach them how to stand their ground, the way this town is going"

Jughead shook his head "Save it for your statement, which you can make to Sheriff Keller or to me. I'd suggest the latter, Blue and Gold offices tomorrow"

Jughead walked away, leaving him with the dilemma of what to do next. Hopefully, he made the right choice and hopefully he would offer more than just a tied up loose end...

*Chuck's POV*

When Chuck woke up, his head felt fuzzy and he didn't know where he was. All he knew that he was sat, neck deep in water and it was hot. He tried to get up only to find that his arms had been handcuffed to two silver handles. The hot tub!

The memories began to rush back to him as he remembered where he was. He was at Ethels with Betty and Veronica. He strained his wrist against the handcuffs and winced at how tight they were. If this was their kink then it had gone far enough.

"Start recording" said a voice from above him.

"What's going on, it's really hot in this tub" he groaned, craning his neck up so that he could see the figure of Betty Cooper, standing over him.

"And getting hotter by the minute" Betty replied bluntly "Time to squeal pig. Tell the truth about what happened between you and Veronica"

Chuck laughed. If they thought they could break him with some hot bathwater then they had another thing coming.

"We had a good time. She had a good time" Chuck said placatingly.

"THE TRUTH CHUCK" Betty yelled "Or so help me, I will boil you alive"

Chuck didn't know if it was just his head, or the heat but Betty didn't sound like she was joking and the water was getting hotter by the second. Just how crazy were these bitches?

"What!? We...We made out"

"And then" Betty prompted.

"And then I took her home and I didn't give her a sticky maple" he admitted desperately, the temperature was now becoming unbearable and the steam was making it hard to breathe.

"That is all you had to say you ass and know everyone will know" Veronica said from the other side of the tub. Through the steam Chuck could see that she had her phones camera pointed right at him. Well shit, it wasn't his worst secret but it was out and of course, it wouldn't matter that they'd almost boiled him to death in the video, only that he lied about a date. Nevertheless, if it got him out of this tub and away from the psycho sisters then he really wasn't that bothered.

Suddenly Betty's foot pressed hard on his head, forcing him further into the water.

"Woah hey" he yelled up at her.

"Do you like shaming people Chuck? Do you like de-humanising them? Prissy prude by day, freak in the sheets by night that's what you said right?

"No stop" he yelled as his mouth went under the water.

"Apologise!" Betty yelled "Say you're sorry!"

"OKAY" Chuck yelled back as she let him up a bit "Okay I'm sorry, Jesus"

Betty lifted her foot off his head "Good Job pig, now time for your reward. A sticky maple of your own"

Chuck looked up and saw her holding a big bottle of maple syrup over him. After everything that had just happened, he had no idea what kind of fucked up plan she had but he sure as hell wanted nothing more than to be away from her.

"What do you want?" he said slowly.

"Apologise for ruining Polly" Betty said forcefully.

Chuck looked over to Veronica for help but she was too busy staring with the same shock that he was.

"What the hell do you mean?"

"DO IT JASON" she shouted as she poured the syrup onto his face. The sticky, viscous liquid landed on his eyes, nose and mouth, stopping him from seeing and making it even harder to catch a breath.

"Oh my god, what the fuck are you on" he spat defiantly.

"Say your sorry for destroying me, apologise for what you did to me"

"I'm not Jason, you're crazy"

From across the tub he heard Veronica yell

"Betty that's enough, stop it, it's over. We won, you did it"

"You are fucking crazy, you're crazy as hell" Chuck yelled as he tried desperately to open his eyes.

He had no idea what kind of thing had taken over Betty Cooper but rest assured when the time was right, he'd have his revenge and it would be apocalyptic.

*Archie's POV*

When Archie left the house there were a number of things he expected to see. Riverdale was a town that moved like clockwork and his neighbourhood was no different. Every morning he'd see the same kid out on his paper round, he'd see Hal Cooper watering his flowers and of course he'd see his Dad's truck polished and ready for the day. What he didn't expect to see was his Dad fitting panels of foam onto the garage walls.

"Dad?" he called as he walked over to him "What's going on?"

"Well by means of apology, I am soundproofing the garage. After John told me the truth about what happened at the Mayors house that night, I figured I owed you one"

Archie grinned widely "Dad this is awesome. Thank you!"

"I uh also met your music teacher last night, Miss Grundy? Oh, they did not look like that in my day son"

Archie began to panic, this didn't have the hallmarks of anything good.

"What uh...what did you guys talk about"

"You"

Crap.

His Dad walked over to him.

"She believes in you Archie and so do I"

He looked at his dad and for the first time in weeks, walked over and embraced him, making a mental note to thank John later. He'd been a bigger man than Archie had given him credit for.

*Veronica's POV*

"Quite the expose" Veronica admitted as she held up the latest edition of the Blue and Gold to Betty in the hallway "Whenever did you find the time to write it?"

Betty rubbed her eyes sleepily "I stayed up all night, couldn't sleep after last night's events"

"Betty, you came through for me like no one ever has before but... can we talk about what happened?"

Betty narrowed her eyes in confusion "What do you mean?"

"The wig and everything. How far were you gonna take it?" she asked incredulously

"Chuck deserved it" Betty countered.

"You called him Jason"

Betty frowned and shook her head "No, I didn't do that"

She turned and began to walk away but Veronica followed her.

"Yeah girl, you did. You called yourself Polly. It was like Dr Jekyll, Mistress Hyde. You became another person!"

Betty sighed "Okay I remember saying that he should apologize for Polly but not because I thought he was Jason"

Veronica narrowed her eyes "Why then?"

How could she deny this? She'd been there, had she really lost control that much?

Betty slammed her locker shut and turned on her "Because I'm sick of guys like Chuck and Jason doing horrible things to girls like me, you and Polly, okay?"

Betty took off again and watched her leave. On the one hand she was thankful for everything that had happened, in the end it had gotten the desirable result. On the other she was scared of whatever it was that was living inside of her best friend. How often would it make an appearance and how much control did it really have over the nice girl? One thing was certain in her mind though, whatever happened Veronica would be there for her because now they were sisters in arms and nothing could ever break that bond...

*John's POV*

"You know when I asked her to watch you, I didn't imagine that this would happen" Archie's voice jolted John awake. He looked around the room, Archie was stood at the foot of his bed but that wasn't the only strange thing, there were two pairs of legs on the bed. He looked to his left to see Cheryl Blossom sleeping next to him and smiled. She hadn't left him since the attack, she was still wearing the same clothes and had a small bruise on her forehead where she'd hit the wall but Cheryl Blossom was still the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"shh I can scarcely believe it myself" he whispered "What can I do for you bro?"

Archie sat on a chair on his side of the bed and scooted it closer to him "It's more what you did for me, telling Dad the truth was a brave move, man"

"Well I couldn't let you take the fall for Malachai coming back, not after everything you'd done already"

Archie's face turned serious "Do you think he'll be back again?"

John groaned and stretched his arms out "He'll always be back I suspect, until he's finished the job. That's why I've made a decision, a tough decision on a big opportunity. I'm going back to the Ghoulies"

"What!?" Archie yelled.

"Shhh" John hissed, checking quickly on Cheryl "I know it sounds crazy but Malachai told me the Boss is dead"

"Great, that means your free and you can go back to normal"

"No, if Malachai takes charge of the gang he'll make it worse than it already was with his vision for a drugs empire and he'll come after me relentlessly with everything he's got. That's why I'm going to contest his leadership, I have as much popularity in the gang as he does and if I can wrestle control from him then I can use the Ghoulies as a force for good in Riverdale"

"John you'd be going back into the lion's den just to save a gang from debauchery when it's already pretty fucked. Just think about how dangerous this is, you barely survived him twice let alone a third time" Archie hissed incredulously.

"I'm the only one who'll stand in his way after what he did to me. I did a lot of bad things in that gang now it's my chance to do something good. It's my time for retribution and I'm not going to waste it. He can strike me down again and again but until me and all of you are safe, I'll be the thorn in his side and I'll never, ever leave. If he wants a fight, I'll gladly give him one"

*Narrator*

Good and Evil, light and dark. Betty and Veronica, John and Malachai. Each of them, one side of a Janus coin. John had pledged himself to fighting against the potential reign of Malachai and so while he sat recovering in his hospital bed with Cheryl, he made calls and requested favours in a focused attempt to establish his contention for leadership.

Meanwhile after Betty's article went viral, Weatherbee needed a sacrificial lamb, he needed to make an example of someone. So, after Hermione Lodge negotiated a lesser sentence for the two avenging angels, Coach Clayton to save his job and the schools reputation was forced to cut Chuck and his goons from the football squad. An action which would have devastating consequences in the near future but one thing was certain, Betty and Veronica, now B and V had been forged. They'd walked through the fire and survived. They'd passed the ultimate test, a test that was still to come for poor young Archie Andrews.

After the heart to heart with his father and the terrifying concept of his brother's leadership bid, he once again found himself seeking comfort with his forbidden love. It didn't matter how hard they tried to push each other away because in the end they always found themselves restoking the fire of their risky relationship. The joining of Geraldine Grundy and Archie Andrews seemed unavoidable or at least that's what it seemed until Dilton Doiley arrived at the Blue and Gold offices to make his statement the following day.

In order to save his own hide, Dilton had been willing to part with some information that he thought would be useful to Betty and Jughead in their investigation of Jason Blossoms death. What he didn't know was that he would be uncovering a secret that, if revealed would incur terrible consequences. Nevertheless, in exchange for silence over the gunshot, he told them that he saw Miss Grundy's car by Sweetwater River on July the fourth. As Jughead listened to the confession he tried to think of anyway that he could protect his pal Archie and his secret relationship but Dilton Doiley had just opened Pandora's Box and now there was nothing he, or anyone else could do to save him...

AUTHORS NOTE:

Hey readers,

it's currently 6:30am here in Leicester at the time of writing this so I'm afraid my editing may be a lot worse than usual on this. I appreciate you being patient with me and reading to the end but I'm also very thankful that you've been patient during my brief hiatus from updating this story. I'm also experiencing bouts of what can only be described as insomnia (Hence my being up at this hour) so I've just been feeling very tired and unmotivated lately but the release of yesterday's episode of Riverdale inspired me to finish off this part and get it uploaded so you have Netflix to thank.

As for this chapter how did you like it? I really enjoyed writing the scenes between Cheryl and John for this part and the return of Malachai was certainly an idea I had last minute to spice things up. I'll tell you what I didn't enjoy though, writing B and V's scene with Chuck because it was just a very sort of awkward sexy moment and I've never really written anything like that plus it was hard to describe anything because my knowledge of women's uh 'Swimwear' is saddening.

As usual thank you so much for reading and please comment with any questions or grammatical mistakes that annoy the living hell out of you. As usual I'm open to adding peoples character's to the story if you give me a description of them and a brief rundown of their history. Please don't forget to leave a favourite and I'll see you all at the end of Chapter Four.

Terrah!!


	11. Chapter 4 Part 1

Jason Blossom's death was quickly becoming a normality for Riverdale, which for many was terrifying but Jason would not be the only casualty that the town would suffer in the coming weeks. Unaware of this our heroes are already settling into problems of their own, unaware of what dark times awaited.

Jughead Jones was on a mission to save his workplace and home away from home, the Twilight Drive-In. The Drive-In was a piece of town history and a collection of memories and yet due to poor investment it was now closing down, just when the town needed it the most.

Something, or rather someone, else that the town needed was John Andrews. The town didn't know it but John's challenge of Malachai's leadership bid for the Ghoulies was all that was standing in the way of the Ghoulies becoming drug mule's intent on ruining Riverdale. After his time in the hospital John knows what's at stake and knows that he must raise his following within the gang if he ever wants to stop Malachai's plans. He sits and wonders exactly how he might accomplish this.

Meanwhile the investigation of Jason Blossom's murder continues to disrupt daily lives with Sheriff Keller going door to door with the hope of finding any and all information. With pressure being pilled on by the Blossoms, Riverdale is becoming more like Salem during the witch trials with everyone turning on each other.

Yet while everyone else is focused on the big mystery, Betty Cooper sits in her room alone. She's writing a diary entry on an incredibly disturbing piece of information that she acquired from Dilton Doiley. That Archie, her best friend and former crush, might be caught up in a forbidden romance.

*Betty's Diary*

Dear Diary,

Sheriff Keller doesn't know what I know. That Riverdale High's music teacher, Geraldine Grundy, was at Sweetwater River the morning that Jason Blossom went missing and that, since Archie was there, they could have been there together.

I trust Archie more than I trust anyone but I also know him better than I know anyone. He's easily manipulated and if Grundy is using him to make sure that something doesn't get out, then he'd happily oblige if he thought it would protect her. God only knows what kind of spell she might have over him but I will get to the bottom of it.

I won't let Archie down!

*Betty's POV*

"The Drive-In closing is just one more nail in the coffin that is Riverdale...No forget Riverdale, in the coffin of the American Dream!"

Betty was shaken from her thoughts by Jughead's angry yelling. She, Jughead, Veronica and Kevin were sat together in a booth in Pop's and Jughead had been ranting for the last half hour about the towns plans to close the Drive-In. Betty hadn't been listening, she agreed with Jughead but she had other things on her mind, namely Archie and his relationship with Miss Grundy.

"As the Godfather of indie cinema, Quentin Tarrantio, once said—"

Kevin interrupted Jug "Please, God, no more Quentin Tarrantino references"

Jughead looked up at Kevin "What? I'm pissed and not just about losing my job. The Twilight Drive-In should mean something to us!"

Veronica chuckled and leant forwards "In this age of Netflix and VOD, do people really want to watch a movie in a car? I mean who even goes there"

"People who want to buy crack" Kevin muttered.

"How about cinephiles and car enthusiasts, right Bets?" Jughead asked Betty.

Betty snapped her mind back to Earth and shook her head in agreement "Uh totally"

"It's closing because the town owns it but didn't invest in it. So, when an anonymous buyer made Mayor McCoy an offer she couldn't refuse—" Jughead was cut off again by Veronica.

"Anonymous buyer?" Veronica shook her head in disbelief "What do they have to hide? No one cares"

Jughead frowned "I do. Anyway, you guys should all come to closing night, I'm thinking American Graffiti...or is that too obvious?"

"Well I vote for anything starring Audrey Hepburn or Cate Blanchett" Veronica bubbled.

"The Talented Mr. Ripley" Kevin voted "Betty, your choices?"

Veronica leaned in towards Betty "Everything okay B?"

Inwardly Betty laughed. If only she could tell her best friend what was going on, then at least she wouldn't be the only one worrying but Archie was her friend and she didn't want to betray him by letting everyone in on his secret, she hadn't even told Jughead.

"Yeah just thinking is all" She lied "How about Rebel without a cause"

Betty and Jughead both chuckled at the same time, sometimes she was amazed she didn't end up crushing on Jug instead of Arch. They had way more in common.

"Here you go kids" said a kind voice next to them.

It was Hermione Lodge, Veronica's mom, bringing over their food. Betty still couldn't get over the fact that Hermione had gone from wife of one of the most successful businessmen in America to a waitress in over a month. It just didn't seem possible that someone could fall that far from grace. Then again with the way that this world was going, she really shouldn't have been surprised.

She watched as Hermione walked over to Cheryl's table to collect the bill. She was sat with her usual cronies which Betty had expected but it had managed to surprise everyone else. They'd assumed that because Cheryl and John were together now, that Cheryl would have attempted to make some kind of amends. Betty knew Cheryl far too well, she was keeping her new boyfriend a secret and that meant that she couldn't be seen near any of them, not that she would have anyway. She'd bought into John, not the rest of them.

Just as Hermione was about to collect the money from the table, Cheryl grabbed it and looked up at the much taller woman.

"Be sure to put all the cash in the register, you are a Lodge after all" Cheryl announced loudly.

Veronica started to get up and Betty was about to go over as well but Hermione waved them away before turning back to Cheryl.

"Cheryl, I went to school with your mother. She didn't know the difference between having money and having class either" Hermione gave Cheryl one last look then walked off.

Betty smiled to herself, she should have known that Hermione was as sharp as her daughter. Cheryl would have a hard time pushing either of them around.

"That's an odd combo of people" Kevin muttered suddenly, causing them all to turn around and look at the front door to Pop's.

Kevin was right, stood there was the very strange combo of Fred Andrews, Archie Andrews and Geraldine Grundy. Except for Betty it wasn't that strange.

"I'll be right back" Betty said, getting up.

"Betty, don't" Jughead hissed as he tried to grab her coat but just missed.

Betty stood up and began to walk over to the booth where Archie, his Dad and Miss Grundy had settled down. She had to know what was going on here and the only ways she was going to find that out was if she asked Archie straight up.

"Hey Betty" Archie's Dad said as she approached.

"Hey Mr Andrews, Miss Grundy" She said with a smile "Archie can I talk to you?"

"Uh sure, I'll call you later?" Archie replied nervously.

"No actually now, just school stuff. Outside?" she asks forcefully, fully aware of the glance Archie had just shared with Grundy.

They walked out the front of the store and the door hadn't even closed behind them before the words blurted out of Betty's mouth.

"Archie as your best friend, is there anything that you wanna tell me?"

Archie seemed to panic for only a second before narrowing his eyes in confusion.

"I don't think so?"

Betty sighed "Miss Grundy was at Sweetwater River on July 4th, were you with her?"

Archie didn't reply straight away, instead he stared in to her eyes. Probably trying to figure out how she knew.

"Did Jughead tell you?" He asked eventually.

She was taken back by that, what did Jughead have to do with this. As far as she knew, they'd found out at the very same time.

"Jughead knew about this?"

They both cast a look back to the booth where she imagined, a very embarrassed Jughead was sitting.

*Veronica's POV*

Veronica watched as Betty and Archie turned to look at the window to their booth.

"Okay they're both looking at us, what's going on? Is it about me?" she rambled, Veronica hated not knowing things.

She looked at Jughead, who had hunkered down out of sight.

"I have a strong inkling" he said cautiously "Also no and I'd let it go"

Veronica sighed "Yes but you're you and I'm me. You do you girl, I'll be back"

With that she got up and walked outside smiling as she heard Kevin say from behind her "What was it like before she got here? I honestly cannot remember"

She walked out the front door and was immediately taken aback by the very first thing she heard Betty say.

"Archie are you and Miss Grundy together? Like romantically?"

"Oh my god" she breathed as she walked over to them and Archie turned to see her "You and your music teacher are having an affair?"

Archie shook his head "We are together, look I know that sounds bad but honestly it isn't"

"It sounds scandalous" Veronica said, in disbelief. She'd had no idea that town life could be this exciting.

Betty raised her eyebrows "It sounds like jailtime to me!"

Archie turned on her "Betty don't go there"

"Already there" she retorted back at him.

He turned to face Veronica again "Ronnie, a little help here?"

Veronica stammered, she hated being put on the spot like this "Technically Betty's right. I mean what is she to you anyway? Your Girlfriend? Your Booty Tutor?"

Archie stared at the ground "I really don't know what to call her okay but all I know is that she was there for me when no one else was"

Veronica looked at Betty as her face fell. That wasn't fair although Veronica was pretty certain that Archie hadn't even noticed what he'd said. He was too caught up in his Grundy fantasy world.

"Okay we get it, but you've lied Archie. There's no getting around that, to us and a sheriff"

Archie turned to Betty "Betty say something, please!"

Veronica watched Betty's crestfallen face, she just kept shaking her head until a loud horn made them all turn around.

Betty's mom had pulled up next to them in the car and she looked furious.

"Get in the car, Betty. Now!" Alice Cooper yelled.

Veronica wanted to tell her to shut up but that wouldn't have helped Betty at all.

With a shrug to Archie, Betty walked over to her mom's car and got in just as her mother sped off.

"Oh Archiekins" Veronica said softly as she looked at Archie "You're in it deep this time"

*Cheryl's POV*

Cheryl was sat in her car at Pop's, she couldn't stand to be in there with the witches of Pembrooke any longer. They may have been John's friends but she still found them a threat.

"Look all I can tell you is that he's older than me, he goes to our school and he's been under my nose this whole time and if you can't work it out from that then you bitches really are useless" She said playfully to her two teen capos.

She looked away from them for a moment only for something to catch her eye. A Southside Serpent in an iconic leather jacket, having an argument with a Pop's waitress. One very interesting Pop's waitress as well. Hermione Lodge.

"Turn down the music" She barked "I spy with my little eye Hermione Lodge, full of secrets. Riddle me this, hair models of the damned. Why is Veronica's mother having a tete-a-tete with a Southside serpent, behind a dumpster at Pop's?"

She smiled before raising her phone to take a picture, tomorrow she was going to do a little hell raising and it would teach Hermione Lodge a lesson she'd never forget...

*Jughead's POV*

"How hard would it have been to give me a little head up?" Archie demanded as he followed Jughead through the corridors on his mission to save the Drive-In. He was handing out flyers but mostly at the moment he was just using them as an excuse not to look at the furious face of Archie Andrews.

Jughead sighed "Look I am, by nature, a conscientious objector. Not saying anything to either you or Betty was the most moral apathetic choice I could make"

Archie grabbed Jughead by the arm "Jug, she's not gonna write about me and Grundy in the paper is she? Like she did with Chuck?"

Jughead looked at Archie incredulously "Dude seriously? Okay look just think about what you're asking. If there was even an iota of a chance that anything could hurt you in any way, Betty wouldn't do it...probably"

"Oh my god, what!"

Jughead chuckled "I'm kidding but maybe she has a point. What do you see happening with Grundy, long term? What do you want?"

"I just want to be with her Jug. I don't know how but I wanna hang on for as long as possible"

Jughead sighed as he put up another 'Save the Drive-In' poster "Yeah I get you. I'm trying to hold onto something much older than me too"

Archie laughed and shook his head "Just, promise me you'll let me know if Betty's gonna do anything crazy. So, I can stop it and talk it over with her, please"

Jughead nodded even thought he knew deep down that if Betty was going to do something crazy, there would be nothing that either of them could do to stop it.

*Geraldine's POV*

Geraldine felt like a rabbit in headlights. When Betty had come up to the table last night, demanding to speak to Archie she automatically had a bad feeling. The girl had to know what was going on and after she'd approached Geraldine this morning about doing an interview, she was now certain of this.

They were sat in the music room on stools, so that their eyes were at the same height. Geraldine had never felt so terrified of a teenage girl in all her life.

"Thank you for taking the time, Ms Grundy" Betty said to her with a sickly smile "Like I said the Blue and Gold is doing a series of articles spotlighting teachers, and you're our first"

Geraldine smiled nervously back at her. Everything she'd worked to hide; this girl could uncover it all.

"Let's begin. Uh you joined the faculty last year. Where did you move to Riverdale from?"

Geraldine took a breath and answered as calmly as she could, there was no reason to believe that this interview was anything but platonic.

"Here and there. I was just mostly on the road"

Betty frowned at her "But you've taught at other schools?"

"Oh yeah of course"

Betty seemed to wait expectantly but Geraldine wasn't going to give her more information than she asked for.

"Could I get their names?" Betty prompted.

Geraldine laughed in an effort to fight back the 'No' that she wanted to say.

"Seaside High and Centreville High"

"Nice and what made you leave?"

This, she didn't have to lie about "They were temporary placements, you know, filling in for maternity or sabbatical. This is my first permanent position"

Betty didn't even react, choosing instead to steer the conversation some place else. Probably somewhere where she thought she'd be able to catch Geraldine out. She had another thing coming, there was no way this lovesick little girl was going to ruin the best thing that had ever happened for her.

"Getting back to music, you've been working with Archie Andrews on an independent study, how's that going? Have you ever done this sort of thing before?"

There it is, she thought.

"Yes, with two other students last year. Tomoko Yoshido and Jason Blossom"

Betty looked shocked "Jason? Before..."

Geraldine nodded "Before he died, such a tragedy. He was an inspiration"

Betty's face suddenly changed as she leaned in with a fake smile.

"And pretty cute, right?"

Two could play at this game.

Geraldine leaned in so she was on Betty's level and spoke calmly.

"I don't think of my students that way, now if you'll excuse me, I have to prepare for my next class"

With that Geraldine got up, making a mental note to tell Archie to reign in his maniacal journalist friends.

*Veronica's POV*

Kevin reached into the student lounge vending machine and retrieved his snack, although creepily his eyes never left Veronica but because it was Kevin, she couldn't help but giggle. There was something so carefree about Kevin, you could always be yourself around him.

"It's a quintessential right of passage, making out with your boy or girlfriend at the movies" Kevin sighed.

He was talking about how he didn't have a date to the Drive-In, Veronica didn't either although after Chuck she wasn't exactly unhappy about that.

"Why don't we go together?" Veronica suggested "I can't promise you any action but maybe I'll bring you good luck?"

Kevin smiled "Great, another night another hag"

"Speaking of hags" said the unmistakable and unwanted voice of Cheryl Blossom, from right next to them "Veronica, it's so devasting to me that your mother has to sink to such unspeakable lows just to keep those knock-off Hermes bags on your arm"

Veronica turned to Cheryl and chuckled "My mom's a waitress Cheryl, not Fantine. You know I thought getting with John would mellow you but clearly I was wrong, what do you want?"

Cheryl's eyes were full of fury "Only to remind you of your place in this school"

Veronica smiled coldly at her "Threatened much? Don't worry, you may be a stock character from a '90s teen movie but I'm not. Now what does any of this have to do with my mom being a waitress?"

Cheryl's face turned coldly smug "I saw her talking to a Southside Serpent last night, in that alley behind Pop's. They were having an extremely heated, intimate discussion, see for yourself"

With that Cheryl opened her phone and showed her a picture of her mother fighting with a tall man in a leather jacket.

Veronica was taken aback, so much so that she barely spoke for the rest of the day. On the car ride home, she couldn't help but keep replaying what Cheryl had said over and over in her head. Was her mother going to end up like her father and worse still, was she doing it all for her?

When she got home, she walked tentatively into the front room where her mother was lounging on the recliner.

She noticed Veronica walking in and smiled "Who knew working would be so tiring?"

Veronica didn't respond. How was she supposed to ask her mother this question?

"Mom?" She asked cautiously.

"Yeah?"

"Cheryl showed me a picture...You were standing in an alley behind Pop's with a Southside Serpent? What were you doing?"

Her mom's face went from surprised to amused fairly quickly "First off you have nothing to worry about, you have to remember Veronica, I grew up here. The Serpents may be from the wrong side of the tracks but I went to school with some of them. I was just being polite"

"Cheryl said it looked like you two were arguing"

Her mother laughed "Arguing? Hardly, he made a lewd comment and I put him in his place"

Veronica shook her head, some part of her just wasn't buying this "Mom if you're in some kind of trouble..."

"I'm not, Mija when have I ever lied to you?"

Veronica stared into her mom's eyes and realised that she never had and whatever she was feeling was probably just a result of her father's arrest, but she could shake the feeling that something about this whole scenario was wrong...

*Jughead's POV*

After an hour of waiting they'd finally been allowed into Mayor McCoy's office at the town hall. He was here to ask the Mayor not to destroy the Drive-In and he'd brought backup. He'd asked John to come along in his Ghoulies Jacket, he was clutching at straws but maybe she'd recognise the symbolism and be scared? Jughead took what he could get in this lonely fight and John had been his partner in crime after he'd fallen out with Archie so it just felt right to call on his help.

Together they were led by a deputy up to the office where Mayor McCoy was stood in front of a scale model of the entire town.

"Jughead, John! It's good to see you both, I don't believe I ever got the chance to thank either of you for the parts you played in saving my daughter from that shooter"

Next to him he saw John shuffle his feet nervously, oh if only she knew the real story.

"It was our pleasure" Jughead replied for them both.

"So, what brings you to my office today boys?" she asked, sitting in her chair.

"Well, I'm here to ask you to save the Twilight Drive-In" Jughead said with as much confidence as he could muster.

"I'm sorry, but the Twilight Drive-In? It's a blight that's become a cesspool and a hangout for criminals and transients" She gave a judging look to John's jacket "Like the ones your sporting on your clothes, young man"

John smiled wryly "Fashions, fashion ma'am"

The mayor shook her head "Anyway, it doesn't matter. The deals done, Andrews Construction is scheduled to demolish the whole thing on Monday"

Jughead took a deep breath "Mayor McCoy, when I was a kid, my family would go to the drive in all the time. We couldn't afford tickets for everyone so my sister Jellybean and I would hide in the trunk until we parked, then we'd sneak out. It's like my home" he said desperately.

"That's a very sweet sentiment, Mr Jones but the future of Riverdale is at stake"

Jughead looked at her, pleading with her eyes but she looked away and stood up "now if that's all I have a lot to attend to"

Jughead figured it better to not push her, they shook her hand and walked out of the office and back into the waiting room.

"I can't believe that she won't help" John muttered "I mean an anonymous buyer? That's ridiculous"

Jughead sighed "She is right about the gangs though, Serpents are crawling all over the place. Probably won't be long until your boys are there too"

John smiled "Not if I can help it, I mean just think Jug. If I win this bid then I can use this gang to drive people like the Serpents out of places like the Drive-In, I can make a difference"

"Any chance you can hurry up with that then?" Jughead laughed.

"Not unless you know how to gain the trust of seventy people"

Jughead frowned, an idea formed in his head "What if you could kill two birds with one stone? Investigate the Serpents at the Drive-In and find out why they've taken an interest in it, if I can then track down this anonymous buyer then you can bet their connected. If you deliver the Serpents full plans to the Ghoulies then they'll have to respect you, it's more than Malachai's done"

"You know what Jug that might just work"

"Then it's decided" Jug said confidently "You go to the drive in and find out as much as you can, take back up in case you're spotted"

John frowned "Where will you start?"

Jughead smiled "I'm gonna interrogate your father"


	12. Update 191119

Hey everyone,

I've been really neglecting my writing on all platforms this year because I'm actually writing a few projects that I won't be allowed to publish until July 2020 at the latest. Some of it is original and will end up on my Wattpad and some of it is Fan fiction which I'll dump here.

This update more concerns the future of Riverdale: The Andrews Brothers and my activity on this site over the course of the next year. Now when it comes to writing R:TAB it's more an exercise in dialogue and scene setting than original content until it comes to writing John's chapters and the Ghoulie plot line (which I've written out all the way to S3 and am currently fitting into S4 as it releases). Now for the future would you rather that I focused exclusively on John's story and eluded to the canon plotline through the other characters or would you rather it's continued in the same fashion? I'd love to hear which you'd rather so please do get in contact.

Another question I have is for another Fan fiction which I wrote a couple years ago. Now I'm not sure how much the Riverdale and Doctor Who fandoms cross over but i basically wrote my own season of Doctor Who with a Doctor of my devising based on the infinitely nerdy Richard Ayoade. Would you like me to clean it up and start to upload it? I would be curious to find out if anyone would actually like to read it so as I said please contact me!

As for new content, I plan to upload more on the run up to Christmas so get your stcokings out!

Cheers and see yous soon!


End file.
